THE  NEXT 


BIOLO3* 

LIBRARY 

G 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


A  STUDY  IN  THE  PHYSIOLOGY 
OF  INHERITANCE 


BY 

FRANCES  GULICK  JEWETT 
«» 

AUTHOR  OF  THE  FOLLOWING  BOOKS  OF  THE  GULICK  HYGIENE  SERIES 

"GOOD  HEALTH,"  "TOWN  AND  CITY,"  "THE  BODY  AT  WORK," 
"THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES,"  AND  "CONTROL  OF  BODY  AND  MIND" 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON     •     NEW  YORK     •     CHICAGO     -     LONDON 
ATLANTA     •     DALLAS     •    COLUMBUS     •    SAN  FRANCISCO 


COPYRIGHT,  1914,  BY  FRANCES  GULICK  JEWETT 

ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED 

518.9 


BIOLOGY 

LIBRARY 

6 


gfte 


GINN  AND  COMPANY  •  PRO- 
PRIETORS •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


TO 
BOYS  AND  GIRLS 

THE  GUARDIANS 
OF  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


518749 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

In  offering  this  small  volume  to  those  who  may  read  it 
the  author  wishes  to  express  her  own  indebtedness,  not  alone 
to  the  men  and  to  the  women  whose  books  have  supplied 
her  with  facts  and  with  inspiration,  but  also  to  relatives 
and  personal  friends  who  have  shared  in  her  work  as  coun- 
selors, and  to  authorities  of  distinguished  attainment  who 
have  given  the  manuscript  careful  reading.  Among  these 
should  be  mentioned  Professor  Irving  Fisher  of  Yale  Uni- 
versity, Professor  W.  L.  Tower  and  Professor  G.  H.  Mead  of 
The  •  University  of  Chicago,  Professor  Thomas  M.  Balliet 
of  New  York  University,  Dr.  Luther  H.  Gulick  of  New 
York  City,  and  Professor  Adolf  Meyer  of  the  Johns  Hopkins 
Universitv. 

Acknowledgment  is  also  made  to  authors  and  to  publishers 
through  whose  kindness  many  of  the  illustrations  of  this  book 
have  become  possible  ;  also  to  Mr.  Victor  David  Brenner  for 
permission  to  represent  on  the  cover  his  medallion,  "  The 
Successors  to  the  Fates."  Having  been  designed  for  the 
Fifteenth  International  Congress  of  Hygiene  and  Demog- 
raphy, this  emblem  most  appropriately  shows  that  "  the  distaff 
from  which  is  spun  the  thread  of  life  is  held  to-day  by  the 
forces  of  modern  hygiene." 

FRANCES   GULICK  JEWETT 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION ix 

CHAPTER 

I.    FATHERS,  MOTHERS,  AND  CHILDREN i 

II.   ANDALUSIAN  FOWLS 7 

III.  WHEN  CHARACTERS  ARE  COMBINED 12 

IV.  MENDEL  AND  HIS  GARDEN  PEAS 20 

V.    LAWS  OF  INHERITANCE  PUT  TO  USE 26 

VI.   EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HORSE 34 

VII.   A  FEW  OF  DARWIN'S  FACTS 43 

VIII.    DARWIN'S  PROBLEM 49 

IX.    FIVE  LINKS  TO  THE  CHAIN .  56 

X.    EVIDENCES  OF  EVOLUTION 64 

XL   ACQUIRED  CHARACTERS  AND  MUTATIONS     ....  72 

XII.    ISOLATION,  OR  LAND  SHELLS  ON  HAWAII    ....  81 

XIII.  CHANGED  ENVIRONMENT  FOR  LEPTINOTARSA  ...  88 

XIV.  NEW  SPECIES  THROUGH  CHANGED  ENVIRONMENT     .  95 
XV.   BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEXT  GENERATION      .     .     .     .  100 

XVI.   THE  MARVEL  OF  GROWTH no 

XVII.    GERM  CELLS  DAMAGED  BY  ALCOHOL 118 

XVIII.    FROM  FOURTEEN  TO  TWENTY 126 

XIX.    NICOTINE  AND  ADOLESCENCE 136 

XX.   ALCOHOL  AS  A  BEVERAGE 145 

XXI.   THE  CROWN  OF  EVOLUTION 153 

XXII.    FAMILY  RESPONSIBILITY 162 

XXIII.    PROTECT  THE  STREAM  OF  LIFE 165 

vii 


Vlll 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXIV.    PREVENTION  OF  BLINDNESS 173 

XXV.    SAFETY  FROM  FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 181 

XXVI.   OVERWORK  FOR  CHILDREN  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS 

AGO  AND  Now .  189 

XXVII.   THREE  STEPS  IN  RACE  IMPROVEMENT 196 

XXVIII.   THE  FINAL  STEP,  OR  RACE  REGENERATION  .     .     .  201 

QUESTIONS 205 

A  PARTIAL  LIST  OF  BOOKS  USED  IN  THE  PREPARA- 
TION  OF   THIS   VOLUME 229 

INDEX 231 


INTRODUCTION 


In  the  days  of  myths  in  ancient  Greece  men  talked  about 
three  Fates  who  were  sisters.  And  in  Rome  an  artist1 
painted  these  sis- 
ters as  they  were 
supposed  to  be  — 
three  old  women 
in  a  group,  con- 
trolling the  des- 
tiny of  every 
human  being. 

As  they  stand 
together  in  the  pic- 
ture they  neither 
weep  nor  smile ; 
they  show  neither 
joy  nor  sorrow, 
neither  hope  nor 
despair.  Each  is 
working,  watch- 
ing, waiting. 

Clotho  is  the 
youngest  sister. 
She  holds  the 

distaff  which  carries  the  thread  of  life.   This  thread  begins  to 
lengthen  when  the  baby  is  born.    Lachesis,  the  second  sister, 

1  Supposed  to  have  been  Michelangelo. 
ix 


THE  THREE  FATES 


x  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

spins  out  the  thread  as  the  years,  go  by ;  and  Atropos,  the 
third  sister  Fate,  stands  by  with  huge  shears.  She  is  the 
oldest,  the  most  haggard,  the  most  cruel  of  them  all,  and  she 
threatens  the  thread  from  the  moment  the  spinning  begins 
until  she  decides  to  cut  it. 

Sometimes  she  clips  her  shears  together  and  cuts  when 
the  thread  has  lengthened  no  more  than  a  hand's  breadth. 
This  means  that  the  baby  dies  very  young.  Sometimes  the 
thread  grows  longer  and  longer,  until  yards  of  it  have  been 
spun  off  by  Lachesis.  This  means  that,  although  Atropos 
continued  to  threaten  with  her  shears,  she  did  not  actually 
bring  them  together  until  years  had  passed  and  the  baby  had 
grown  to  be  a  man. 

The  teaching  of  the  picture  of  the  myth  is  that  human 
beings  of  every  age,  in  every  generation,  are  but  the  play- 
things of  the  Fates  —  that  life  is  longer  or  shorter  as  the 
Fates  decide,  and  that  no  act  of  man  can  change  either  his 
own  destiny  or  that  of  his  descendants. 

Here,  then,  is  the  difference  between  ancient  myth  and 
modern  science.  Nowadays  science  declares  that  man  is  by 
no  means  altogether  helpless  concerning  his  own  future  —  that 
only  the  fool  believes  he  cannot  help  himself.  And,  laden 
with  facts  to  prove  each  point,  science  goes  on  to  show  how 
man  may  shorten  his  life  or  lengthen  it,  how  he  may  bless 
his  life  or  curse  it,  how  he  may  make  his  life  or  mar  it,  by 
what  he  knows  and  by  the  way  he  puts  his  knowledge  to  use. 

Science  does  not  stop  even  here,  but,  with  proofs  in  hand, 
shows  that  the  destiny  of  future  generations  lies  in  the  hands 
of  the  men  and  the  women,  the  boys  and  the  girls,  who  are 
alive  to-day. 

This  book  deals  with  the  same  absorbing  topic.  It  tries  to 
show  how  it  is  that  science  has  crippled  those  ancient  Fates, 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

and  why  it  is  that  a  man  who  understands  the  laws  of  growth 
and  of  inheritance  may,  in  a  very  real  way,  drive  the  crippled 
Fates  from  the  field  and  help  shape  the  future  of  the  race. 

Some  one  has  suggested  that  the  three  Fates  of  modern 
life  are 

1.  Heredity  —  what  we  receive  from  our  ancestors  by  the 
road  of  inheritance. 

2.  Environment  —  all  that  surrounds  us  and  influences  us 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave. 

3.  Personal    choice  or  will    power  —  what  we    make  of 
ourselves  during  life. 

The  analogy  is  not  altogether  perfect,  but  the  following 
pages  take  each  of  these  modern  Fates  into  account. 

To  understand  inheritance  we  must  follow  life  from  pre- 
historic ages  until  now.  From  small  beginnings  we  must  trace 
large  results  —  must  learn  how  it  is  and  why  it  is  that  all  life 
on  the  earth  is  joined  as  a  unit,  and  must  know  how  life  is 
passed  on  from  generation  to  generation. 

We  must  even  study  life  cells  in  their  development,  and 
watch  them  as  they  grow  from  stage  to  stage,  until  at  last 
they  become  well-developed  beings. 

In  other  words,  we  must  learn  so  many  facts  about  life  itself 
and  about  what  controls  it,  that  we  shall  be  better  prepared  to 
face  our  own  lives  and  the  lives  of  future  generations. 

Science  says  human  beings  will  be  safer  when  people 
know  the  facts  and  are  influenced  by  them.  Teachers  say, 
"  Give  us  the  facts  and  we  will  pass  them  on  to  the  boys 
and  the  girls  whom  we  teach."  Both  scientist  and  teacher 
agree  that  the  human  race  will  be  better  able  to  escape 
certain  kinds  of  peril  if  we  let  young  people  know  what  the 
perils  are  and  how  to  avoid  them. 

Such  is  the  purpose  of  this  book. 


Hitherto  the  development  of  our  race  has  been  uncon- 
scious, and  we  have  been  allowed  no  responsibility  for  its 
right  course.  Now,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  we  are  treated 
as  children  no  more,  and  _the_cpnscious  fashioning  of  the 
human  race  is  given  into  our  hands.  Let  us  put  away  childish 
things,  stand  up  with  open  eyes,  and  face  our  responsibilities. 

WHETHAM 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

CHAPTER  I 

FATHERS,  MOTHERS,  AND  CHILDREN  * 

At  our  county  fair  recently  the  animal  that  drew  the 
crowd  and  won  the  prize  was  a  huge  Poland-China  pig. 
He  weighed  twelve  hundred  pounds,  measured  seven  full  feet 
in  length,  was  coal  black  with  white  feet  and  a  white  face, 
and  had  ears  that  flapped  low.  He  had  a  turned-up  nose,  a 
curled-up  tail,  legs  barely  long  enough  to  hold  his  body  from 
the  ground,  and  he  cost  exactly  three  thousand  dollars. 

"But  why  did  you  pay  so  much  ?  "  we  asked  the  owner. 

"  For  three  reasons,"  he  said. 

1.  "  The  pig  has  a  fine  line  of  ancestors. 

2.  "He  shows  it  in  every  part  of  his  body. 

3.  "His  descendants  are  sure  to  be  like  him  and  to  bring 
fancy  prices." 

From  this  man's  point  of  view  it  was  indeed  clear  that  for 
the  sake  of  the  next  generation  even  pigs  must  have  the 
right  sort  of  ancestors. 

And  what  about  human  beings,  we  wondered  —  the  people 
next  door  and  the  rest  of  us  ?  Does  the  law  apply  to  us  all  ? 
We  thought  them  over,  one  by  one,  —  neighbors  to  the  north 
and  to  the  south,  to  the  east  and  to  the  west  of  us, . —  men, 
women,  and  children  who  are  set  apart  in  families,  with  each 
family  quite  different  from  all  the  others. 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


Yet  we  knew  that  if  a  student  of  the  laws  of  inheritance 
should  come  to  town,  and  if  he  should  hear  certain  definite 
facts  about  the  ancestors  of  these  neighbors,  even  without  a 
glance  at  the  men  and  the  women  themselves,  or  at  their 
children,  he  would  be  able  to  go  from  door  to  door  and  nail 
on  most  of  them  a  few  definite  statements  about  the  children 

in  the  house. 

One  label  might  read  : 
"  Every  child  here  has 
light  hair  and  blue 
eyes."  Another  :  "  Every 
child  in  this  family  has 
dark  hair  and  dark 
eyes."  Another  :  "  Most 
of  the  children  unusually 
bright."  Still  another : 
"  Children  dark-skinned 
with  curly  hair." 

And  then  if  the  same 
student  should  go  to  the 
small  house  around  the 
corner,  and  should  know 
what  the  parents  and  the  grandparents  of  the  children  have 
been,  the  paper  nailed  to  the  door  would  read  :  "  Every  child 
in  this  family  is  either  idiotic  or  feeble-minded." 

It  is  true  that  in  many  cases  even  the  closest  students  of 
inheritance  would  not  be  able  to  make  definite  statements 
about  color  of  hair,  eyes,  etc.  Nevertheless,  when  all  the  doors 
had  been  labeled,  those  who  read  the  statements  would  see 
that  most  of  them  told  the  truth  about  the  children. 

Later  chapters  will  show  how  it  comes  about  that  men  are 
able  to  speak  so  positively  about  persons  whom  they  have 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS 


FATHERS,  MOTHERS,  AND  CHILDREN  3 

never  seen.  We  know  this  is  done.  Perhaps,  however,  we 
hardly  appreciate  the  tremendous  power  of  the  laws  which 
tie  the  generations  together. 

Take,  for  example,  the  record  of  the  family  of  Jonathan 
Edwards.  He  himself  was  born  in  1703.  He  was  noted  for 
his  strength  of  character,  for  his  mental  power,  and  for  his 
fearless  loyalty  to  duty. 

Such  was  the  character  stamp  which  he  had  when  he  began 
to  be  an  ancestor.  As  to  whether  or  not  his  own  character 
made  any  difference  with  the  character  of  his  descendants, 
nothing  but  facts  will  show,  and  here  are  some  of  them.1  In 
1900,  of  the  descendants  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  1 394  had  been 
located,  and  the  occupations  of  many  were  ascertained.  The 
following  facts  are  quoted. 

College  presidents 13 

College  professors 65 

Doctors 60 

Clergymen,  missionaries,  etc 100 

Officers  in  the  army  and  navy 75 

Eminent  authors  and  writers 60 

Lawyers over  100 

Judges 30 

Holders  of  public  offices,  one  being  Vice  President  of 

the  \Jnited  States .  80 

United  States  senators 3 

Managers  of  railroads,  banks,  insurance  companies,  etc.  1 5 

College  graduates 295 

Several  were  governors  and  holders  of  important  state 

offices. 

The  claim  is  also  made  that  "  almost  if  not  every  depart- 
ment of  social  progress  and  of  public  weal  has  felt 
the  impulse  of  this  healthy  and  long-lived  family." 

1  Taken  from  Mr.  Winship's  account  of  the  descendants  of  Jonathan 
Edwards. 


4  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

The  following  statement  touches  another  point.  "It  is  not 
known  that  any  one  of  them  was  ever  convicted  of  crime." 

Such,  then,  is  the  well-authenticated  record  of  a  single 
family,  living  in  the  United  States  of  America.  Clearly 
enough,  the  world  is  better  off  because  Jonathan  Edwards 
became  an  ancestor. 

Take  another  American  family,  with  another  kind  of  fame. 
The  "  Jukes  family  "  J  it  is  called.  The  first  discovered  an- 
cestor of  this  group  was  a  shiftless  fisherman  born  in  New 
York  state  in  1720.  He  had  five  daughters,  and  in  the  five 
generations  since  then  the  family  has  numbered  1200  per- 
sons. This  includes  200  outsiders  who  have  married  into  the 
family.  Follow  the  occupations  of  some  of  these  people. 
The  facts  are  quoted  from  the  printed  record. 

Convicted  criminals 1 30 

Habitual  thieves 60 

Murderers 7 

Wrecked  by  diseased  wickedness 440 

Immoral  women fully  one  half 

Professional  paupers 310 

Trades  learned  by  twenty.    Ten  of  these  learned  the 
trade  in  prison. 

Think  also  of  this  other  fact  which  the  report  brings  out : 
During  the  years  of  their  lives  not  paupers  alone  but  also 
those  who  had  committed  robbery  and  murder  and  broken 
every  law  of  decency  had  to  be  supported  at  public  expense. 
That  is  to  say,  law-abiding  and  efficient  citizens  —  those  who 
stayed  out  of  prison  and  out  of  the  workhouse,  those  who 
worked  hard  with  honest  purpose  to  support  themselves  — 
had  to  pay  taxes  for  the  support  of  these  lawless  and  in- 
efficient people  who  spent  their  days  in  prison  and  in  the 
workhouse. 

1  Not  the  real  family  name. 


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(From  "  Statistical  Atlas,"  Twelfth  Census  of  the  Unite -1  States) 


6  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

It  is  estimated  that  already  this  single  family  of  Jukes 
has  cost  the  state  of  New  York  over  $1,250,000;  and  the 
expense  still  goes  on,  for  each  generation  of  descendants 
continues  to  be  what  its  ancestors  were. 

In  the  United  States  as  a  whole  those  of  us  who  are  able- 
bodied,  clear-headed,  and  diligent  are  taxed  over  $100,000,- 
ooo  each  year  for  the  support  of  criminals,  paupers,  the 
insane,  the  feeble-minded,  and  the  diseased.  This  does  not 
include  the  enormous  sums  paid  out  by  ourselves  in  private 
charities.  More  serious  still,  thousands  of  those  who  were 
cursed  from  birth  by  the  quality  of  their  ancestors  and  by  the 
surroundings  in  which  they  grew  up  are  themselves  now  a 
curse  to  their  descendants  and  to  the  communities  in  which 
they  live. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  the  relation  of  cause  to  effect  in  life 
is  being  studied  now  as  never  before  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  The  truth  is  that  there  was  never  such  an  array  of 
facts  to  show  what  the  trouble  is  and  how  to  escape  it. 

Examine  the  chart  which  shows  the  rate  of  increase  in 
national  populations.  Notice  what  is  happening  in  the  dif- 
ferent countries  of  the  world.  See  how  the  millions  of  the 
inhabitants  piled  themselves  up  between  the  years  1800  and 
1900.  Imagine  this  rate  of  increase  as  it  goes  on  for  the 
next  hundred  years  ;  then  think  of  the  difference  it  will  make 
in  the  outcome  of  things  whether  one  kind  of  family  or  the 
other  kind  multiplies  faster  on  the  earth. 

The  next  few  chapters  give  facts  which  show  what  the  laws 
of  inheritance  are  —  laws  which  apply  not  only  to  poultry  and 
to  guinea  pigs  but  to  all  living  creatures,  including  man. 


CHAPTER  II 


ANDALUSIAN  FOWLS 

Selected  eggs  were  in  the  incubator,  and  the  men  who 
owned  them  waited  to  see  what  the  chicks  would  look  like. 
It  seems  there  are  two  distinct  kinds  of  Andalusian  fowls, 
—  one  pure-bred  black,  the 
other  pure-bred  white  with 
dashes  of  black  here  and 
there,  —  and  the  owners  had 
selected  one  bird  from  each 
group  to  be  parents  of  the 
next  generation  of  chicks. 

The  question  was  whether 
these  chicks  would  be  black 
like  one  parent  or  white  like 
the  other  parent,  or  whether 
they  would  show  a  mixture 
of  the  two  colors.  BLUE  ANDALUSIAN  PULLET 


The  chickens  come  in  three  colors  :  blue, 

black,    and    white ;    the    larger   number 

being  blue 

each  was  a  queer  mixture  of 


The  answer  came  after  the 
little  creatures  were  hatched. 
Not  a  black  one  or  a  white 
one  appeared  among  them 
black  and  white  which  is  technically  called  blue. 

Was  this  an  accident,  the  breeders  wondered,  or  would  the 
same  thing  happen  over  again  if  other  Andalusian  parents 
were  chosen  ?  So  they  made  another  test.  In  the  first  ex- 
periment the  father  was  black,  the  mother  white.  Now  they 

7 


8 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


changed  the  order.  They  chose  a  pure-bred  white  father  and 
a  pure-bred  black  mother.  Again  they  waited  for  results, 
and  again  the  chicks  told  the  same  story.  Not  a  black  one 
or  a  white  one  was  among  them ;  all  were  as  blue  as  the 
first  group. 

From  then  until  now  the  same  experiment  has  always 
produced  the  same  result.  Whenever  a  black  Andalusian 
, .  fowl  and  a  white  Anda- 
lusian fowl  have  become 
parents,  their  chicks  in  the 
first  generation  have  always 
grown  up  to  be  blue  Anda- 
lusian fowls.  They  are  a 
mixture  and  not  pure-bred 
like  their  parents.  Such  a 
mixture  is  always  called 
hybrid.  Remember  this 
word  and  its  meaning.  It 
is  the  opposite  of  pure-bred. 
All  animals  are  hybrid  un- 
less both  parents  are  pure- 
bred of  the  same  kind. 

The  next  step  in  this 
investigation  was  to  gather 
facts  about  the  descendants  of  the  hybrids.  Would  they  be 
blue  like  their  parents  or  black  like  one  grandparent  or  white 
like  the  other  grandparent  ? 

In  making  this  experiment  two  blue  ones  were  chosen  as 
ancestors. 

The  illustration  shows  what  happened  in  the  next  genera- 
tion. One  chick  was  white  like  one  grandparent ;  one  was  black 
like  the  other  grandparent;  two  were  blue  like  their  parents. 


BLUE  ANDALUSIAN  COCK 


ANDALUSIAN  FOWLS  9 

Follow  the  illustration  on  the  next  page  and  see  what  came 
to  pass  when  the  different  members  of  that  mixed  group  of 
chicks  became  ancestors. 

The  black  one  was  mated  with  a  black  one  from  another 
family  —  not  shown  in  the  picture.  Eggs  were  laid.  These 
hatched  out  in  proper  fashion,  and  behold,  every  chick  of  the 
next  generation  was  as  black  as  its  parents  ;  not  one  was  blue 
like  its  grandparents. 

The  white  one  was  also  mated  with  another  white  one  from 
another  family,  and  here  the  chicks  in  the  next  generation 
were  all  as  white  as  their  parents,  with  not  a  blue  one  among 
them  to  remind  themselves  of  their  blue  grandparents. 

But  when  the  blue  ones  were  mated  with  others  like  them- 
selves, their  children  turned  out  precisely  as  did  the  children 
of  the  hybrids  of  the  previous  generation.  That  is,  out  of 
every  four,  one  chick  was  black,  one  was  white,  and  two 
were  blue. 

These  experiments  have  been  repeated  over  and  over 
again  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  and  the  results  are 
always  the  same.  Stated  concisely,  they  are  as  follows : 

1 .  When  a  pure-bred  black  Andalusian  fowl  is  mated  with 
a  pure-bred  black,  all  the  descendants  are  pure-bred  black ; 
and  so  long  as  black  is  mated  with  black,  no  white  one  and 
no  blue  one  will  ever  appear  in  any  generation  of  the  family. 

2.  When  a  pure-bred  white  Andalusian  fowl  is  mated  with 
a  pure-bred  white,  all  the  descendants  are  white  ;  and  if  white 
continues  to  be  mated  with  white,  no  black  one  and  no  blue 
one  will  ever  appear  in  later  generations  of  the  family. 

3.  When  a  pure-bred  white  is  mated  with  a  pure-bred  black, 
not  a  member  of  the  next  generation  will  be  pure-bred ;  not 
one  will  be  either  black  or  white ;  each  will  be  a  hybrid  and 
each  will  be  blue. 


10 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


4.  When  a  blue  Andalusian  fowl  is  mated  with  another  blue 
hybrid  like  itself,  one  quarter  of  the  offspring  will  be  white, 
another  quarter  will  be  black,  while  the  remaining  half  will 
be  hybrid  and  will  show  it  by  being  blue.1 


COLOR  INHERITANCE  IN  ANDALUSIAN  FOWLS 

Follow  the  descendants  of  the  first  two  and  notice  what  occurs  in  successive  genera- 
tions when  a  pure-bred  black  Andalusian  fowl  and  a  pure-bred  white  Andalusian  fowl 
become  ancestors.  In  studying  the  illustration  remember  that,  in  the  second  genera- 
tion of  offspring,  the  black  one  and  the  white  one  are  mated  with  pure-breds  like 
themselves,  which  are  not  shown  in  the  drawing 

With  Andalusian  fowls  these  laws  of  color  inheritance 
never  vary.  They  can  always  be  depended  upon.  They  con- 
tinue from  generation  to  generation,  and  by  knowing  who  the 

1  The  number  of  individuals  in  the  diagram  for  each  generation  does  not 
mean  that  there  are  always  just  so  many  chicks  in  each  family.  Instead,  the 
number  is  chosen  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  show  the  proportion  of 
black  and  white  and  blue  that  comes  in  each  generation  of  descendants 
when  a  black  Andalusian  fowl  is  mated  with  a  white  Andalusian  fowl. 
Moreover,  it  is  not  meant  that  every  family  of  four  has  one  white,  one 
black,  and  two  blue  chicks,  but  only  that  this  is  true  on  the  average. 
There  is  just  one  chance  in  four  that  an  egg  will  hatch  out  a  white  chick, 
one  chance  in  four  that  the  chick  will  be  black,  and  one  chance  in  two 
that  it  will  be  blue. 


ANDALUSIAN  FOWLS  II 

Andalusian  ancestors  are  one  can  always  tell  what  the  color 
of  the  descendants  will  be. 

But  inheritance  is  not  always  such  an  easy  affair  to  follow. 
On  the  contrary,  Andalusian  fowls  simply  help  us  by  showing 
what  the  laws  are  in  their  simplest  form.  We  shall  soon  see 
that  these  same  laws  are  in  control  even  when  inheritance 
seems  nothing  more  than  a  tangled  skein  of  chances.  Take 
the  guinea  pig,  for  example.  Here  combinations  occur  which 
would  be  pretty  hard  to  understand  if  it  were  not  for  Andalusian 
fowls.  The  next  chapter  deals  with  these  guinea  pigs. 


CHAPTER   III 

WHEN  CHARACTERS1  ARE  COMBINED 

Between  1900  and  1905  about  three  thousand  guinea  pigs 
and  several  hundred  rabbits  were  reared  and  housed  and 
studied  in  the  Zoological  Laboratory  of  Harvard  University. 
Professor  Castle  kept  them  in  this  laboratory  of  living  crea- 
tures for  the  sake  of  seeing  what  he  could  do  for  descendants 
when  he  himself  chose  ancestors  for  them. 

His  main  work  was  with  guinea  pigs,  and  he  chose  them 
because  they  are  small,  because  they  do  not  eat  much,  do  not 
take  up  much  room,  are  easily  cared  for,  and  multiply  fast. 

Perhaps  the  last  reason  was  really  the  most  important  of 
all.  The  truth  is,  small  animals  have  so  short  a  time  from  one 
generation  to  the  next  —  that  is,  from  parent  to  child  —  that 
it  is  easy  to  trace  resemblances  between  far-away  ancestors 
and  present-day  descendants.2 

Rabbits  have  a  new  generation  every  eight  months,  and 
guinea  pigs  multiply  at  the  rate  of  four  generations  a  year. 
This  means  that  guinea  pigs  can  have  children,  grandchildren, 
great-grandchildren,  and  great-great-grandchildren  all  within 
the  same  year.  Thus  guinea  pigs  are  particularly  well  fitted 
to  serve  as  helpers  in  answering  questions  about  inheritance, 
for  within  a  very  few  years  the  descendants  show  just  what 
their  long  lines  of  ancestors  have  done  for  them. 

In  size  these  animals  are  about  as  large  as  well-developed 
rats.  But  instead  of  being  all  of  one  color,  as  are  rats,  the 

1  As  used  in  books  of  this  kind  the  word  character  means  "  characteristic." 

2  All  children  of  the  same  parent  belong  to  the  same  generation. 


WHEN  CHARACTERS  ARE  COMBINED  13 

coats  of  guinea  pigs  show  black,  white,  chocolate,  yellow,  or 
a  mixture  of  certain  shades  of  these  different  colors.  For 
instance,  spots  of  yellow-red  and  of  blue-black,  also  dashes 
of  black  and  of  white,  often  occur  in  different  combinations. 
But  no  combination  of  colors  taught  Dr.  Castle  plainer  lessons 


GUINEA  PIGS  AND  THEIR  DESCENDANTS 

A  dark,  smooth  mother  and  a  rough  albino  father  are  at  the  top.  Below  is  their  son. 
He  is  black  because,  in  guinea-pig  inheritance,  black  is  dominant  over  white ;  he  is 
rough  because  rough  coat  is  dominant  over  smooth  coat.  At  the  bottom  is  a  smooth, 
white  grandchild  of  the  black  and  the  white  grandparents.  (After  Castle,  1905.) 
Publication  23,  Carnegie  Institution 

of  inheritance  than  those  which  he  learned  from  guinea  pigs 
that  were  plain  black  and  plain  white.  Still,  even  these  were 
more  or  less  interesting  according  to  another  character  of 
the  coat  that  covered  them.  For  some  the  coat  was  rough  as 
a  rug,  with  spots  here  and  there  that  looked  like  "  cowlicks  " 


14  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

or  rosettes  ;  others,  both  the  long-haired  and  the  short-haired, 
had  coats  smooth  like  silk.  Some  had  fur  so  short  that  each 
separate  hair  stayed  in  place  without  being  brushed  ;  others 
had  hair  so  long  that  it  could  be  combed  and  parted  and 
brushed  from  side  to  side.  Indeed,  the  length  of  hair  for  a 
full-grown  guinea  pig  runs  all  the  way  from  less  than  two 
inches  on  some  to  over  six  inches  on  others. 

But  whatever  the  character  of  the  fur,  whether  long  or 
short,  black  or  white,  rough  or  smooth,  Dr.  Castle  found  that 
each  one  of  these  characters  was  transmitted  from  ancestor 
to  descendant  in  accordance  with  definite  laws,  and  that 
the  laws  themselves  are  quite  like  those  which  control  the 
descendants  of  Andalusian  fowls. 

At  first  sight  this  seems  to  be  hardly  true.  Take,  for  exam- 
ple, his  black  guinea  pigs  mated  with  white  albino1  guinea 
pigs.  Judging  by  Andalusian  fowls,  we  should  expect  to  see 
a  row  of  small  blue  guinea  pigs  in  the  next  generation.  But 
study  the  diagram  and  see  what  actually  happened.  One 
parent  was  pure-bred  black,  the  other  was  pure-bred  albino 
white,  yet  every  child  of  theirs  was  as  black  as  its  black 
parent.  Not  a  blue  one  or  a  white  one  was  found  anywhere 
among  them.  It  looked  as  if  each  had  inherited  from  its 
black  parent  alone  —  as  if  the  white  parent  had  not  been 
taken  into  account  at  all.  Still  we  know  that  every  guinea 
pig  in  the  row  was  bound  to  be  hybrid  ;  we  know  there  was 
no  escape  for  them,  because,  one  and  all,  they  were  the 
children  of  two  different  kinds  of  pure-bred  parents. 

2  "An  albino  is  an  animal  with  unpigmented  eyes  and  with  little  or  no 
pigment  in  its  coat."  —  Castle.  The  eyes  of  an  albino  are  pink  because  there 
is  no  pigment  in  the  iris.  The  color  of  the  blood  vessels  therefore  shines 
through  it.  Albino  guinea  pigs  always  have  pink  eyes.  There  are  white 
guinea  pigs  with  black  eyes.  These  are  not  albino.  In  this  chapter  it  is 
the  albino  white  that  are  mentioned.  The  other  white  ones  are  not  pure-bred. 


WHEN  CHARACTERS  ARE  COMBINED 


Why,  then,  were  these  hybrids  black  and  not  blue  ?  Simply 
because,  with  guinea  pigs,  black  is  the  so-called  dominant 
color.  This  means  that  when  one  parent  is  black  and  the 
other  parent  white,  and  when  the  two  colors  are  therefore 


G? 

COLOR  INHERITANCE  IN  GUINEA  PIGS 

Although  pure-bred  black  guinea  pigs  and  hybrid  black  guinea  pigs  look  alike,  they 
are  really  different,  and  this  difference  appears  in  the  color  of  their  children.  When 
a  pair  of  black  guinea  pigs  have  only  black  children,  we  know  the  parents  are  pure- 
bred ;  but  when  a  pair  of  black  guinea  pigs  have  white  children  as  well  as  black  ones, 
we  know  their  parents  are  hybrids.  Study  the  illustration  upwards  from  children  to 
parents  and  decide  which  ancestors  are  pure,  which  hybrid.  In  doing  this  remember 
that  in  the  second  generation  of  offspring  the  black  one  and  the  white  one  are  mated 
with  pure-breds  like  themselves,  which  are  not  shown  in  the  drawing.  As  you  study 
the  illustration  keep  the  following  facts  in  mind:  i.  Pure-bred  black  mated  with 
white  gives  black  in  every  member  of  the  next  generation.  Still  each  is  as  distinctly 
hybrid  as  are  the  Andalusian  fowls.  2.  All  are  black  and  not  blue,  because,  with 
guinea  pigs,  black  is  the  dominant,  white  the  recessive  character.  3.  Whenever  a 
white  guinea  pig  appears  as  the  offspring  of  two  black  guinea  pigs,  we  know  that  the 
parents  were  hybrids.  (Find  them  in  the  illustration.)  For  this  reason  we  can  never 
tell  whether  a  black  guinea  pig  is  pure  or  hybrid  until  we  have  seen  its  offspring. 
4.  Whenever  all  the  children  of  two  black  guinea  pigs  are  black,  we  know  that  at 
least  one  of  the  parents  was  pure.  (Find  them  in  the  drawing.)  5.  Whenever  a  white 
guinea  pig  mates  with  a  white  one,  all  the  offspring  are  sure  to  be  white.  Compare 
this  illustration  with  that  of  the  Andalusian  fowls.  Note  the  differences 

to  be  passed  on  by  inheritance  to  later  generations  of  guinea 
pigs,  the  black  dominates  in  the  immediate  next  generatitin. 
The  white  color,  on  the  other  hand,  is  recessive;  that  is, 
it  recedes  from,  sight  and  does  not  appear  in  any  member 


1 6  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

of  that  next  generation.  These  two  words,  dominant  and 
recessive,  are  to  be  remembered,  because,  as  we  shall  see 
later,  they  help  us  understand  why  one  character  and  not 
another  makes  its  appearance  in  succeeding  generations. 

As  we  already  know,  with  Andalusian  fowls  neither  black 
nor  white  is  either  dominant  or  recessive.  As  a  result,  when 
the  two  are  mated,  the  color  of  the  next  generation  is  neither 
black  nor  white,  but  a  mixture  of  the  two,  and  every  member 
of  the  young  family  is  blue. 

With  guinea  pigs,  however,  black  dominates  in  such  high- 
handed fashion  that  white  is  crowded  entirely  out  of  sight  in 
the  next  family  of  descendants.  White  is  therefore  called  the 
recessive  color.  Even  hybrids  among  them  are  black.  Study 
the  illustration  to  see  what  occurs  in  each  successive  generation. 

Notice  that  the  children  of  black  hybrid  guinea  pigs  are 
of  three  sorts,  even  as  are  the  children  of  blue  hybrid  Anda- 
lusian fowls. 

f  One  is  pure-bred  white,  like  its  white  grandparent 

ON  THE  AVERAGE,  ~        .  ,        ,  ,  ,      ,     ,.,      .      ,  ,      , 

OUT  OF  EVERY  FOUR!  One  1S  Pure-bred  black'  hke  lts  black  grandparent. 
j^Two  are  hybrid  black,  like  the  parents. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  nature  does  not  always  label  children 
so  clearly  as  Andalusian  fowls  are  labeled,  Nevertheless,  in 
both  cases  the  same  great  laws  hold  true  for  ancestors  and 
descendants  alike. 

Now  go  a  step  further.  Dr.  Castle  tells  us  that  color  is 
not  the  only  character  which  moves  along  in  definite  fashion, 
by  definite  laws.  He  says  that  when  he  mates  a  rough- 
coated  guinea  pig  with  one  that  has  a  smooth  coat,  all  the 
little  guinea  pigs  of  the  next  generation,  whether  they  are 
white  or  black,  brown  or  yellow,  have  rough  coats  ;  not  one 
among  them  is  smooth-coated.  This  means  that  rough  coat  is 
the  dominant  character  and  smooth  coat  the  recessive  character. 


WHEN  CHARACTERS  ARE  COMBINED 


Again,  when  he  takes  a  pure-bred  guinea  pig  with  short 
hair  and  gives  it  a  mate  with  long  hair,  each  small  guinea 
pig  in  the  next  generation,  whatever  its  color  may  be,  has 
short  hair.  -This  means  that  short  hair  is  dominant,  long 
hair  recessive.  Thus  it  turns  out  that,  with  guinea  pigs,  as 


THREE  GENERATIONS  OF  GUINEA  PIGS 

The  first  row  shows  a  white,  smooth-coated  father,  a  black,  smooth-coated  mother, 
and  their  children.  Each  one  of  these  is  black  and  has  a  smooth  coat.  The  second 
row  shows  a  pair  of  these  black  hybrid  children.  The  third  row  shows  grandchildren 
who  were  children  of  the  hybrids.  Notice  the  white  one  among  them.  It  resem- 
bles its  grandfather.  (From  photographs  furnished  by  Professor  W.  E.  Castle  of 
Harvard  University) 

he  says,  "  black  is  dominant  over  white,  rough  coat  over 
smooth  coat,  short  coat  over  long  coat." 

By  knowing  these  facts  Dr.  Castle  is  able  to  mate  his 
guinea  pigs  in  such  wise  as  to  secure  precisely  the  kind  of 
descendants  he  wishes  them  to  have.  They  will  be  black  or 
white,  with  long  coat  or  with  short  coat,  with  rough  coat  or 


1 8  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

with  smooth  coat,  with  spots  or  bands  or  dashes  of  color, 
in  exact  accord  with  the  ancestors  he  chooses  for  them.1 

In  all  this  discussion,  remember  that  there  are  many  hybrid 
mixtures  of  every  kind  of  guinea  pig,  that  hybrids  are  always 
more  abundant  than  pure-breds,  and  that  when  men  hunt  for 
laws  of  inheritance,  they  are  as  careful  as  possible  to  start 
with  pure-bred  ancestors. 

And  because  these  laws  of  inheritance  also  affect  human 
beings,  we  are  interested  in  them.  Science  is  teaching  that 
each  one  of  us  is  a  bundle  of  combined  characters.  Shape 
of  head,  of  hands,  and  feet ;  length  of  arm,  of  leg,  and 
backbone ;  color  of  skin,  of  hair,  of  eyes ;  turn  of  nose 
and  of  jaw  ;  quality  of  brain-stuff ;  type  of  temperament  — 
all  these  are  combined  in  different  ways  in  each  generation, 
and  some  of  the  characters  may  be  clearly  traced  back  through 
generation  after  generation  of  our  ancestors. 

Speaking  of  this  matter,  Dr.  Forel  says  :  "  In  my  own  face 
the  two  halves  are  distinctly  different,  one  resembling  my 
maternal  ancestor,  and  the  other,  in  a  lesser  degree,  my 
paternal  ancestor ;  these  points  being  seen  distinctly  in 
photographs  taken  in  profile."  2  He  adds  :  "A  person  may 
have  his  father's  nose  and  his  mother's  eyes ;  his  paternal 
grandmother's  humor,  and  the  maternal  grandfather's  intelli- 
gence, and  all  with  infinite  degrees  of  variation,  for  it  is  only 
a  matter  of  more  or  less  accentuated  variations." 

Much  less  is  known  of  mental  than  of  physical  inheri- 
tance, nevertheless  Dr.  Forel  shows  how  it  may  explain  the 
children  of  many  a  distinguished  man.  He  says  that  "a 
common  woman  will  lower  the  level  of  the  offspring  of  a 

1  All  this  is  called  w  breeding  for  points."  Nothing  of  the  kind  has  been 
done  for  human  beings. 

2  Doubtless  an  unusual  case. 


WHEN  CHARACTERS  ARE  COMBINED  19 

distinguished  husband,  and  inversely.  .  .  .  Moreover,"  as  he 
adds,  "the  most  deceptive  point  is  the  contrast  of  a  man  of 
genius  with  his  children  who  do  not  rise  to  his  standard 
because  they  represent  a  combination  of  ancestral  energies 
with  their  other  parent." 

We  shall  return  to  this  subject  later  in  the  book. 

The  next  chapter  goes  back  to  the  man  who  first  dis- 
covered that  color,  shape,  etc.  are  inherited  through  the 
working  of  definite  laws.  No  name  to-day  ranks  higher 
among  students  of  biology  than  that  of  Gregor  Mendel, 
the  man  who  studied  flowers  for  the  sake  of  understanding 
inheritance. 


CHAPTER  IV 


MENDEL  AND  HIS  GARDEN  PEAS 

Those  who  watched  the  man  must  have  wondered  what 
possessed  him.  Every  day  they  saw  him  in  the  gardens  of  the 

cloister  there  in  Briinn, 
Austria,  and  every  day 
they  noticed  that,  al- 
though he  was  a  teacher 
of  science,  he  worked  like 
a  trained  gardener  over 
his  growing  pea  vines. 
Moreover,  strange  to  say, 
he  did  not  seem  to  care 
so  much  about  the  flowers 
on  the  vines  as  about  the 
shape  and  the  color  of  the 
seeds  and  the  seed  pods. 
In  the  course  of  time 
the  neighbors  learned  that 
the  teacher's  name  was 
Mendel,1  and  that  alto- 
gether he  had  twenty-two 

different  kinds  of  peas  under  cultivation.    Probably  they  did 
not  know  that  he  was  searching  day  and  night  for  laws  of 

1  Gregor  Johann  Mendel  was  born  in  Heinzendorf,  Austria,  in  1822. 
He  was  always  a  faithful  student,  and  became  a  priest  in  Briinn,  Austria, 
in  1847.  In  J868  he  was  appointed  abbot  of  the  Konigskloster,  where  he 
had  been  priest. 

20 


GREGOR  JOHANN  MENDEL 


MENDEL  AND  HIS  GARDEN  PEAS 


21 


inheritance,  and  that  he  expected  to  find  these  laws  just  as 
surely  by  studying  peas  and  their  descendants  as  by  studying 
animals     and     their 
descendants. 

For  the  sake  of 
getting  clear  results 
he  studied  characters 
in  pairs  or  groups, 
as  it  were. 

1.  The  form  of  the 
ripe  seed  —  whether 
round  and  smooth  or 
angular    and    deeply 
wrinkled. 

2.  The  color  of  the 
cotyledon  —  whether 
yellow  or  green. 

3.  The  color  of  the 
seed  coat  —  whether 
white,  gray,  or  brown. 

4.  The    form    of 
the  ripe  seed  pod  — 
whether  inflated  and 
smooth  or  constricted 
between  the  peas  and 
wrinkled. 

5.  The    color    of 
the    unripe    pod  — 
whether     green     or 
bright  yellow. 

6.  The  way  the  flowers  grew  —  whether  they  were  bunched 
together  at  the  top  or  scattered  along  on  the  stem. 


COLOR  INHERITANCE  IN  PEAS 

A,  pod  of  yellow  peas;  B,  pod  of  green  peas;  C, 
offspring  of  A  and  B ;  Z),  offspring  of  C.  Notice 
that  in  C  yellow  is  dominant  and  green  recessive, 
and  that  green  appears  again  in  D,  just  as  white 
guinea  pigs  appear  among  the  offspring  of  hybrid 
black  guinea  pigs.  (From  "  Mendel's  Principles  of 
Heredity,"  by  W.  Bateson) 


22  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

7.  The  height  of  the  plant.  One  kind  had  a  stem  seven 
feet  long,  while  the  stem  of  another  was  but  a  foot  long. 

Mendel  kept  each  kind  absolutely  separate  from  all  the 
others ;  that  is,  he  never  let  the  pollen  of  one  kind  reach 
the  stamens  of  another  kind  unless  he  himself  put  it  there. 

By  being  so  careful  he  knew  precisely  which  parents 
headed  the  list  of  each  set  of  descendants.  He  could  also 
tell  which  characters  crowded  the  others  out  in  the  next 
generation.  Tho.se  that  dominated  he  called  dominant; 
those  that  receded  out  of  sight  he  called  recessive.  In  fact, 
Mendel  was  the  first  man  who  ever  used  these  words  in  this 
way,  but  they  explain  the  case  so  well  that  nowadays  we  all 
use  them.  Here  are  some  of  the  dominant  and  recessive 
characters  of  Mendel's  peas  in  two  separate  columns. 

DOMINANT  RECESSIVE 

Tallness.  Dwarfness. 

Round  seeds.  Wrinkled  seeds. 

Colored  seed  coats.  White  seed  coats. 

Yellow  albumen  in  cotyledon.  Green  albumen  in  cotyledon. 

Purple  flowers.  White  flowers. 

Sometimes  characters  were  neither  dominant  nor  recessive, 
so  that  the  next  generation  was  of  necessity  a  mixture. 

Mendel  kept  on  with  his  work  of  crossing  pollen,  watching 
results,  and  writing  records  until  eight  full  years  had  passed. 
Then  at  last,  in  1865  and  again  in  1869,  he  reviewed  what 
he  had  done,  put  his  statistics  together,  came  to  his  conclu- 
sions, and  wrote  them  down  for  the  benefit  of  other  people. 
In  these  papers  he  told  how  he  had  developed  new  kinds  of 
peas,  why  he  had  done  it,  and  what  laws  of  inheritance  he 
believed  he  had  discovered. 

When  he  read  his  papers  to  the  scientific  society  at  Briinn, 
he  himself  was  excited  and  enthusiastic,  but  he  saw  plainly 


MENDEL  AND  HIS  GARDEN  PEAS  23 

enough  that  those  who  listened  were  neither  excited  nor 
enthusiastic.  Indeed,  they  hardly  seemed  even  interested, 
and  when  the  reading  was  over,  Mendel's  own  excitement 
was  gone.  His  heart  was  heavy  with  disappointment.  He 
had  expected  so  much,  yet  nothing  came  of  it.  After  that 


GREEN  ROUND  YELLOW  WRINKLED 


) 


YR        YW   GR       YR       YR      GR.     GW 

O  D  J  J  J    !> 

GR      YW    YR       YW      YR        YR 


INHERITANCE  OF  SEED  CHARACTERS  IN  PEAS 

Y,  yellow ;  G,  green  ;  W,  wrinkled  ;  R,  round.  Notice  that  when  green  round  peas  are 
fertilized  by  pollen  from  yellow  wrinkled  peas,  the  offspring  (only  one  is  shown)  in 
the  first  filial  generation  (7^)  are  all  yellow  and  round.  This  means  that  yellow  and 
round  are  dominant,  while  green  and  wrinkled  are  recessive.  Also  notice  that  in  the 
second  filial  generation  (F2)  the  recessive  green  and  wrinkled  appear  again  in  differ- 
ent combinations  with  the  dominant  characters.  (From  "  Mendel's  Principles  of 
Heredity,"  by  W.  Bateson) 

his  papers  were  simply  printed  and  packed  away  to  gather 
dust  in  the  Briinn  library.  And  there  they  stayed,  out  of 
sight  and  out  of  mind,  unheard-of  and  undreamed-of,  for 
thirty-four  years.  Fortunately,  however,  during  all  these 
years  the  library  had  them  in  safe  keeping. 


24  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Mendel  himself  died  in  1884,  and  it  is  reported  that  many 
times  before  he  died  he  was  heard  to  say,  "  Meine  Zeit  wird 
schon  kommen  "  ("  My  time  will  yet  come  ").  Then  at  last 
it  did  come  for  in  1900,  sixteen  years  after  he  had  been 
buried  and  apparently  forgotten,  his  priceless  papers  were 
discovered  by  younger  scientists,  and  news  of  the  discovery 
was  telegraphed  to  all  parts  of  the  world. 

To-day  every  book  that  discusses  inheritance  takes  Mendel 
and  his  laws  into  account.  Every  breeder  who  studies  in- 
heritance in  rats,  rabbits,  mice,  guinea  pigs,  and  men  builds 
on  foundations  which  Mendel  laid  over  fifty  years  ago  in  his 
Austrian  gardens.  Every  intelligent  man  who  raises  plants 
and  animals  for  the  market  improves  his  stock  according  to 
laws  which  Mendel  discovered. 

Indeed,  in  these  days  the  whole  subject  of  inheritance  is 
stamped  with  his  name.  We  speak  of  "  Mendel's  laws  of 
inheritance  "  and  of  "  Mendelism,"  which  means  the  same 
thing.  The  truth  is,  the  laws  given  in  the  last  two  chapters 
are  nothing  but  Mendel's  laws  as  we  see  them  working 
through  families  of  fowls  and  guinea  pigs. 

Study  the  following  statements  carefully.  Compare  them 
with  the  diagram  of  Andalusian  fowls,  and  see  how  well  they 
go  together. 

MENDEL'S  LAWS  STATED  IN  SIMPLE  TERMS 

1.  When  pure-breds  are  mated  with  other  pure-breds  like 
themselves,  every  one  of  their  offspring  will  be  pure-bred. 
Moreover,  so  long  as  pure-bred  continues  to  mate  with  pure- 
bred, the  descendants  of  every  generation  will  continue  to 
be  pure-bred. 

2.  When  a  pure-bred  of  one  kind  is  mated  with  a  pure-bred 
of  another  kind,  every  member  of  the  next  generation  is  hybrid. 


MENDEL  AND  HIS  GARDEN  PEAS      25 

3.  When  hybrids  are  mated  with  each  other,  half  of  their 
offspring  will  be  hybrid,  one  quarter  will  be  pure-bred  like 
the  father,  the  other  quarter  will  be  pure-bred  like  the  mother. 

These,  then,  are  Mendel's  great  laws  of  inheritance.  He 
discovered  them  by  studying  averages  taken  for  multitudes 
of  cases.  They  apply  equally  well  to  plants  and  to  animals 
of  every  kind  in  every  land.1 

Mendel  discovered  his  laws  through  the  help  of  garden 
peas.  Other  scientists  have  proved  them  through  the  help 
of  rats,  rabbits,  mice,  guinea  pigs,  and  other  small  animals. 
We  ourselves  should  make  use  of  them  for  the  advantage  of 
our  own  descendants. 

1  In  1900,  just  before  Mendel's  work  had  been  discovered,  these  same 
laws  of  inheritance  were  rediscovered  by  three  different  students,  who  inves- 
tigated independently  in  three  different  countries  —  De  Vries  in  Holland, 
Correns  in  Germany,  and  Tschermak  in  Austria. 


CHAPTER  V 

LAWS  OF  INHERITANCE  PUT  TO  USE 

During  the  year  1900  the  National  Association  of  British 
and  Irish  Millers  decided  that  the  wheat  yield  of  Great  Britain 
was  far  too  small  —  that  a  better  grade  must  be  grown,  and 


VARIETY  IN  HEADS  OF  WHEAT 

The  upper  row  shows  two  parents  with  their  offspring  between  them.   The  second 
row  shows  six  types  that  belong  to  the  next  generation  of  descendants.    (Photo- 
graphed from  specimens  supplied  by  Professor  Biffen.)  (From  «  Mendel's  Principles 
of  Heredity,"  by  W.  Bateson) 

that  they  themselves  must  have  the  benefit  of  this  new  wheat 
as  promptly  as  possible.  Accordingly  they  raised  money  and 
asked  certain  scientists  to  do  what  they  could  to  produce  the 
wheat  for  them. 

26 


LAWS  OF  INHERITANCE  PUT  TO  USE          27 

Professor  R.  H.  Biffen,  of  Cambridge,  England,  was  chosen 
as  chief  investigator.  His  first  act  was  to  get  samples  of  wheat, 
each  one  of  which  had  some  especially  fine  quality.  One  bore 
grain  on  a  stout  stalk,  another  had  a  full  head  of  wheat,  another 
was  beardless,  another  yielded  a  great  amount  of  grain  to  the 
acre,  still  another  could  not  be  injured  by  the  wheat  disease 
called  rust  —  that  is,  it  was  immune  to  this  particular  disease. 

These  and  other  varieties  reached  Dr.  Biffen  from  different 
countries,  and  he  kept  them  strictly  apart  except  as  he  himself 
planted  and  paired  them  according  to  the  descendants  which 
he  wished  them  to  have.  He  did  no  guessing  about  his  work  ; 
neither  did  he  wait  for  haphazard  results.  He  had  studied 
the  laws  of  inheritance,  and  he  knew  perfectly  well  that  by 
selecting  ancestors  carefully  enough,  and  by  keeping  cause 
and  effect  ever  in  mind,  he  could  travel  a  straight  road  toward 
his  desired  end. 

After  a  fashion  he  was  really  forcing  a  new  variety  of  wheat 
into  existence,  and  he  was  so  successful  that  in  the  course  of 
time  he  presented  the  National  Association  of  Millers  with 
precisely  what  they  wished.  This  new  wheat  had  a  strong 
stalk  and  a  full  head  of  grain  kernels.  It  was  rich  in  gluten 
and  beardless.  It  could  resist  all  attacks  of  the  dreaded  rust, 
and  it  yielded  large  quantities  of  grain  to  the  acre.  Science 
had  helped  nature  evolve  a  wheat  which  satisfied  even  the 
clamor  of  the  millers.  They  pronounced  it  a  great  success. 

And  what  of  corn,  that  other  food  stand-by  ? 

In  the  state  of  Washington,  in  1912,  two  fields  of  corn 
grew  side  by  side.  Each  covered  ten  acres ;  each  grew  in 
the  same  kind  of  soil ;  but,  strange  to  say,  one  of  these  fields 
yielded  about  half  as  much  again  as  the  other.  I  asked  what 
made  the  difference,  and  the  farmer  who  owned  the  rich 
field  gave  a  broad  smile. 


28 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


"  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  simply  took  corn  ancestors  into  account, 
and  my  neighbor  over  there  did  n't  pay  any  attention  to  them." 

"  In  what  way  ?  "   I  asked. 

"  The  only  possible  way,"  came  the  answer.  "  I  was  care- 
ful where  the  seed  came  from.  Last  year  most  of  my  corn 
had  one  ear  to  the  stalk,  just 
as  his  has  now ;  but  I  noticed 
that  some  of  my  stalks  had 
two  ears  to  the  stalk.  So 
you  see,  that  was  my  clue. 
Those  ^vere  the  ones  I  saved 
for  seed  corn."  How  he 
smiled ! 

"  Besides  that,"  he  went 
on,  "  even  when  there  were 
two  ears  to  the  stalk,  I  never 
kept  seed  that  grew  on  weak 
stalks.  All  that  corn  of 
mine"-— and  he  waved  his 
hand  triumphantly  toward 
his  ten  acres  —  -u  came  from 
seed  that  grew  on  strong 
stalks ;  each  one  of  those 
stalks  bore  two  ears  apiece. 
And  look  at  it  now.  More 
than  half  that  corn  has  two 
ears  to  the  stalk.  Some  of 
it  carries  three  ears.  Good  investment,  wasn't  it  ?  "  And  he 
smiled  again. 

Had  this  farmer  owned  Luther  Burbank's  seed  corn,  he 
might  have  done  better  yet,  for  Mr.  Burbank  has  raised  corn 
that  grows  sixteen  feet  into  the  air  and  bears  thirty-two  ears 


AN  EAR  OF  CORN  IN  ITS  HUSK 


LAWS  OF  INHERITANCE  PUT  TO  USE          29 

to  the  stalk.  He  has  also  grown  a  potato  so  fine  that  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  says  it  is  ''adding 
seventeen  and  a  half  million  dollars  a  year  to  the  farm  incomes 
of  America  alone." 

There  is  no  question  about  wheat  and  corn  and  potatoes ; 
man  has  changed  them  all  for  the  better.  And  the  list  might 
be  made  many  times  longer,  for  nowadays  the  same  laws  of  in- 
heritance are  being  used  to  improve  tomatoes,  watermelons, 
apples,  grapes,  beans,  peaches,  and  other  edible  things. 

Then,  too,  there  is  the  case  of  cotton  to  be  rescued  from 
the  weevil. 

In  the  southern  states  of  America  the  boll  weevil  is  the 
pest  of  the  cotton  crop.  It  is  a  flying  insect  that  punctures 
the  flower  buds  and  the  bolls  of  cotton  and  lays  its  eggs 
within.  Here  these  eggs  hatch  out  into  small  worms  which 
feed  on  the  heart  of  the  bud.  This  so  damages  the  growing 
flower  that  it  loses  its  vitality  and  falls  to  the  ground  before 
the  cotton  is  formed.  At  last,  however,  a  variety  of  cotton 
plant  has  been  developed  which  not  only  bears  cotton  that  is 
long  and  silky,  but  which  flowers  so  early  in  the  season  that 
the  cotton  itself  is  ready  to  be  picked  before  the  boll  weevil 
has  harmed  it.  This  single  discovery  will  save  thousands  of 
bales  of  cotton  every  year. 

Laws  of  inheritance  have  certainly  been  pressed  into  prac- 
tical use  in  all  sorts  of  directions.  And  now  steps  in  Luther 
Burbank  to  show  what  can  be  done  in  securing  beauty. 

He  took  the  plant  amaryllis,  with  its  slender  stem  and  its 
blossom  two  or  three  inches  across,  and  from  this  he  helped 
nature  evolve  a  new  amaryllis  with  low,  sturdy  trunk  about 
eighteen  inches  high,  and  a  blossom  nearly  a  foot  in  diameter. 
He  took  the  common,  everyday  poppy,  multiplied  its  hybrids 
by  tens  of  thousands,  made  careful  selection  of  ancestors,  kept 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


close  watch  of  descendants,  continued  the  selecting,  the  re- 
jecting, and  the  multiplying  for  several  years,  and  to-day  it 
is  as  if  the  flower  had  been  glorified.  Each  blossom  is  from 
eight  to  ten  inches  in  diameter.  When  one  is  placed  above 
another  in  a  column,  seven  of  them  will  stand  as  high  as  a 
man.  With  a  dozen  of  these  blossoms  in  front  of  him,  even 


VARIATION  OF  HYBRID  POPPY  LEAVES 

Out  of  two  thousand  plants  no  two  were  alike.    (From  "  New  Creations  in  Plant 
Life,"  by  W.  S.  Harwood.   Published  by  The  Macmillan  Company) 

a  large  man  would  be  hidden  out  of  sight.  Mr.  Burbank 
is  even  able  to  take  "  a  single  one  of  these  new  poppy-seed 
capsules,  divide  it  into  four  sections,  and,  by  pollinating  each 
section,  produce  from  one  section  an  annual  plant,  from  an- 
other a  perennial,  from  the  third  quarter  crimson  poppies, 
from  the  fourth,  white  ones."  He  has  also  produced  a  blue 
poppy,  unknown  to  the  world  before,  and  has  changed  the 
color  of  the  native  poppy  of  California  from  gold  to  crimson. 


LAWS  OF  INHERITANCE  PUT  TO  USE  31 

In  addition  he  has  transformed  the  plum  and  has  made  a 
combined  fruit  from  the  plum  and  the  apricot.  He  has  taken 
the  old-fashioned  wild  daisy  of  New  England,  has  combined 
it  with  daisies  from  Japan  and  England,  and  has  secured  the 
lovely  Shasta  daisy,  .which  has  no  rival.  He  has  taken  dif- 
ferent species  of  cacti,  has  crossed  them  carefully,  and  has 
secured  varieties  so  free  from  thorns  that  they  are  a  boon  to 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  PLUM 

The  two  larger  ones  are  seedlings  of  the  other  two.   (From  "  New  Creations  in 
Plant  Life,"  by  W.  S.  Harwood.   Published  by  The  Macmillan  Company) 

man  and  beast  alike.  Other  so-called  "  spineless  "  cacti  were 
already  in  existence,  but  government  reports  tell  us  that 
these  are  "  all  more  or  less  spiny."  Mr.  Burbank's  varieties, 
however,  are  so  free  from  spines  that,  according  to  Dr.  D.  S. 
Jordan,  he  had  "  upwards  of  500  kinds  of  edible  cactus  in 
1908."  Each  one  was  the  result  of  laws  of  nature  guided  by 
man.  The  same  is  true  of  changes  brought  about  in  animal 
life.  Take  sheep,  for  example.  Some  are  liked  because  they 
are  hornless,  some  for.  the  quality  of  mutton  they  supply, 
some  for  the  long,  soft  wool  they  grow.  Knowing  what  was 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


desired,  and  knowing  how  to  secure  results  through  inheri- 
tance, certain  breeders  in  England  claim  to  have  produced 
a  final  and  best  variety  of  sheep.  ,  Here  all  the  wished-for 
characters  have  been  so  happily  brought  together  that  to-day 
breeders  proudly  show  the  result  —  a  sheep  which  bears  fine 

wool,  is  hornless,  and 
yields  the  sort  of  mut- 
ton that  meat-eaters 
like  the  best.  Practical 
breeders  have  secured 
its  evolution  by  con- 
trolling its  ancestors. 
We  may  take  cattle 
for  another  example. 
Shorthorns  have  been 
developed  in  England 
during  the  past  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years. 
They  are  profitable  for 
their  beef  and  some- 
times for  their  milking 
qualities.  Then  there 
is  the  Jersey,  famous 
for  its  rich  cream.  In 
1904,  at  the  World's 
Fair  in  St.  Louis,  a 
Jersey  cow  took  the 
prize.  And  no  wonder,  for  within  seven  and  a  half  months 
her  cream  yielded  over  547  pounds  of  butter.  Holstein  cattle 
are  bred  for  the  quantity  of  milk  they  give  ;  Hereford  for  the 
quality  of  their  beef.  Some  are  chosen  for  color,  for  shape, 
or  for  size ;  others  for  their  combination  of  characters. 


THE  CACTUS 

In  the  foreground  is  the  ordinary  thorny  kind ; 
those  in  the  rear  are  the  thornless  ones  of  the 
same  species,  secured  by  Mr.  Burbank.  (From 
"  New  Creations  in  Plant  Life,"  by  W.  S.  Harwood. 
Published  by  The  Macmillan  Company) 


LAWS  OF  INHERITANCE  PUT  TO  USE  33 

Horses  are  bred  not  for  quality  of  meat,  not  for  texture 
of  wool,  but  for  the  work  they  can  do,  for  the  speed  they 
can  make  in  running,  for  their  shape,  their  color,  and  their 
general  good  looks. 

But  all  this  is  about  modern  changes  in  plants  and  animals. 
It  is  an  account  of  forced  evolution,  as  it  were.  It  shows 
what  takes  place  when  man  uses  the  laws  of  inheritance  in  this 


~  •  - 


JERSEY  Cow,  FIGGIS  76106 

Property  of  C.  I.  Hood  &  Company,  Lowell,  Massachusetts.   Champion  and  Grand 

Champion,  World's  Fair,  St.  Louis,  1904.   Made  547  pounds  6  ounces  of  butter  in 

seven  and  a  half  months.  Such  a  cow  is  worth  perhaps  a  dozen  of  the  ordinary  kind 

that  make  125  pounds  in  a  year 

direction  or  that,  as  he  wishes  to  get  something  different  in  the 
next  generation,  and  in  the  next,  for  indefinite  periods  of  time. 
As  we  know,  the  whole  era  of  this  modern  experiment  lies 
within  the  memory  of  the  human  race..  There  were,  however, 
other  eras  and  generations  unnumbered,  in  ages  before  man 
began  his  reckoning,  when  evolution  made  the  same  resistless 
headway,  yet  moved  at  slower  pace  and  without  the  aid  of  man. 
The  horse  best  illustrates  this  prehistoric,  slower  evolution. 


CHAPTER  VI 

EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HORSE 

Hieroglyphics  on  ancient  tombs  show  that,  even  so  long 
as  thirty-five  hundred  years  ago,  royal  Egyptians  went  to  war 
in  chariots  drawn  by  horses.  Other  records  tell  us  that  wher- 
ever man  has  gone  since  then  in  the  development  of  civili- 
zation, he  has  taken  the  horse  with  him.  To-day,  therefore, 
we  find  this  animal  in  all  lands  where  man  lives  and  can  use 
him.  And  this  use  takes  different  forms.  Horses  are  bred 
for  strength,  for  speed,  for  gait,  for  looks,  for  size,  for  the 
ability  to  perform  tricks,  and  for  several  other  special  pur- 
poses ;  but  no  development  of  any  sort  changes  them  beyond 
recognition.  By  their  looks,  their  acts,  and  their  anatomy  we 
decide  without  question  that  all  modern  horses  are  related  to 
each  other. 

Bear  these  facts  in  mind  as  you  go  to  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History  in  New  York  City,  and  think 
about  them  as  you  visit  what  is  called  the  Department  of 
Vertebrate  Paleontology.  This  is  where  many  fossil  bones1 
are  kept. 

1  A  fossil  bone  is  one  that  has  been  gradually  turned  into  stone  during 
past  ages.  Little  by  little,  through  chemical  action,  mineral  matter  takes 
the  place  of  the  bone,  and  when  the  exchange  is  fully  made,  the  bone  it- 
self has  really  become  rock.  Thousands  of  years  are  needed  for  the  change, 
but,  once  made,  the  fossilized  bone  is  brittle  and  heavy  and  able  to  en- 
dure as  long  as  the  rocks  themselves  shall  last.  It  is  to  this  bone  petri- 
faction that  scientists  owe  their  knowledge  of  animals  whose  skeletons 
have  been  preserved  unchanged  for  millions  of  years. 

34 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HORSE  35 

When  you  reach  the  place,  hunt  for  the  horse  bones. 
You  will  find  them  grouped  together  —  skull  bones  here, 
leg  bones  there,  jaw  bones  in  a  row  by  themselves.  Each 
set  is  in  its  own  glass  case ;  each  is  carefully  mounted  and 
labeled ;  each  is  protected  from  meddlesome  hands  and 
from  fire.  Notice  that  all  are  arranged  according  to  size, 
and  that  they  show  progress  from  smaller  to  larger. 


Courtesy  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History 

HORSE  SKELETONS  COMPARED 

The  larger  skeleton  is  of  a  horse  of  modern  times.   The  smaller  one  (set  in  plaster) 
is  of  a  primitive  horse  that  lived  three  million  years  or  more  ago.   (After  Osborn) 

Give  special  attention  to  the  skeletons  —  one  sixteen  inches 
high  and  about  as  large  as  a  good-sized  cat,  another  a  giant 
that  towers  as  high  as  the  largest  dray  horse  in  a  modern  city. 

If  both  these  skeletons  were  wrapped  in  flesh  again,  if  they 
were  alive  and  could  move  about  and  meet  each  other  to-day, 
neither  creature  would  whinny  to  the  other,  for  neither  would 
recognize  the  other  as  a  flesh-and-blood  relation. 


36  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Nevertheless,  science  tells  us  that  thousands  of  other  bones 
have  been  found,  that  these  are  graded  all  the  way  between 
the  smaller  and  the  larger  skeleton,  and  that  they  prove  the 
following  remarkable  fact :  The  huge  dray  horse  is  as  truly 
related  to  the  small,  catlike  creature  as  we  ourselves  arc 
related  to  our  own  distant  ancestors  of  prehistoric  times. 

To  be  sure,  the  smaller  animal  lived  as  much  as  three  mil- 
lion years  before  his  big  relative  was  born,  and  it  was  during 
this  time  that  legs  and  jaw  and  skull  bones  went  through 
their  tremendous  transformations.  The  diagram  shows  what 
these  transformations  were. 

Follow  the  foot  as  it  changes  into  a  hoof.  Notice  the 
middle  toe.  See  it  grow  larger  and  larger,  until  the  side  toes 
are  entirely  crowded  out  of  service.  They  do  not  so  much  as 
touch  the  ground.  They  hang  in  mid-air  as  the  animal  walks. 

It  took  lengthened  ages  for  nature  to  bring  this  change 
about.  Then,  in  course  of  time,  all  but  the  middle  toe  had 
vanished  from  sight.  Gradually  also  the  toenail  part  of  the 
middle  toe  had  turned  itself  into  a  pounding  hoof.  And 
to-day,  as  Dr.  Matthew1  says,  "the  horse  may  be  said  to 
be  an  animal  that  walks  on  its  middle  finger  nail,  all  the 
other  fingers  having  disappeared." 

The  nail  itself  has  indeed  become  a  hoof  so  broad  and 
so  strong  that  it  is  able  to  support  the  entire  weight  of  the 
animal  that  travels  through  life  upon  it. 

Examine  the  legs  of  any  modern  horse  and  you  may  find 
traces  of  two  earlier  toes.  These  so-called  splint  bones  are 
four  or  five  inches  above  the  hoof,  and  they  are  so  far  out  of 
sight  and  out  of  the  way  that  they  do  not  hinder  the  animal 
either  in  walking  or  in  running.  Neither  do  they  in  any  wise 
help  the  horse  as  he  walks  and  runs. 

i  Author  of  "  Evolution  of  the  Horse." 


Q 

2  5 

a  « 

w  S^ 


37 


38  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

§ 

See  by  the  diagram  that  while  toe  bones  were  changing  in 
this  way,  jaw  bones  and  teeth  were  changing,  too.  Notice  that 
the  small  jaw  of  the  smallest  horse  had  teeth  close  together 
all  the  way  from  back  to  front.  Now  trace  the  change.  See 
the  jaws  stretch  out  in  front  little  by  little  from  generation 
to  generation. 

Notice  that  even  though  the  jaws  grew  longer,  the  num- 
ber of  the  teeth  stayed  the  same.  Not  a  new  one  arrived  to 
fill  up  the  gap.  The  front  teeth  stayed  in  front,  the  rest 
stayed  on  the  back  of  the  jaw,  a  growing  gap  separated  the 
two  sets,  and  that  gap  grew  wider  and  wider,  until  our  own 
kind  of  horse  appeared.  And  it  is  because  this  modern  horse 
has  several  inches  of  stretched-out  jaw  which  carry  no  teeth 
whatever,  that  a  twentieth-century  man  can  guide  a  twentieth- 
century  horse  with  bit  and  bridle. 

When  you  find  a  friendly  horse  some  day,  examine  his 
mouth  and  make  discoveries  for  yourself.  At  the  same  time 
think  of  his  ancestors  and  try  to  imagine  what  men  thought 
when  they  first  found  fossil  bones  of  that  most  ancient, 
smallest  horse. 

Dr.  Matthew  says  that  when  its  bones  first  came  to  light 
years  ago,  even  students  of  such  subjects  did  not  so  much  as 
suspect  that  the  little  creature  was  a  horse.  Instead  they 
called  him  Hyracotherium,  meaning  "the  coneylike  beast." 
But  afterwards  so  many  other  bones  were  found  in  Nebraska, 
Arizona,  Oregon,  and  elsewhere,  that  these  same  students 
were  able  to  construct  the  bone  pedigree  of  our  modern 
horse.  At  the  same  time  they  named  the  different  types, 
as  the  chart  shows. 

They  traced  connections  from  smaller  horse  to  larger,  from 
four  toes  to  one  toe,  from  foot  to  hoof,  from  short  jaw  to 
long  jaw,  and  as  they  did  all  this  they  saw  that  every  bone, 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HORSE 


39 


every  tooth,  and  every  part  of  the  skeleton  had  been  changed 
by  slow  degrees  during  unmeasured  periods  of  past  time. 

Moreover,  with  this  knowledge  as  their  basis,  they  knew 
they  had  in  hand  a  key  which  would  help  unlock  the  mys- 
tery of  all  change  in  all  animals,  both  ancient  and  modern. 


Head 


Fore  Foot 


HindFoot 


Teeth 


OneToe. 

Splints  of 

2nd  and  4th 

digits 


OneToe 

Splints  of 

2nd  and  4th 

digits 


Protohippus 


Mesohippus 


ThreeToes 

SidTtoes 

not  touching 

the  ground 


ThreeToes 

Side~toes 

not  touching 

the  ground 


Long- 
Crowned, 
Cement- 
covered 


ra    ThreeToes 
Side  toes 
Aft  touching  the 

ground; 
Splint  of  Sthdigit 


Protorohippus 


ThreeToes 

Side  toes 

touching  the 

ground 


Four  Toes 


Short- 
Crowned, 
without 
Cement 


Hyrac  other  ium 
(Eohippus) 


FourToes 
Splint  of 
1st  digit 


ThreeToes 
Splint  of 
5th  digit 


DRAWING  OF  SKULLS,  FEET,  AND  TEETH  OF  PREHISTORIC  HORSES, 
GROUPED  FOR  COMPARISON 

They  show  the  development  of  the  horse  by  evolution.   (Reproduced,  by  permission, 
from  "  Origin  and  History  of  the  Horse,"  by  H.  F.  Osborn) 

As  might  be  supposed,  it  takes  two  sets  of  scientists  to 
make  out  the  truth  about  buried  bones. 

i.  There  is  the  geologist.  He  studies  the  earth  itself, 
knows  which  parts  of  it  were  formed  first,  which  later,  and 
by  knowing  just  where  the  bones  came  from,  he  tells  us  which 


40  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

animals  lived  earlier,  which  later.  He  assures  us  that  the 
smallest  horse  bones  are  the  oldest  horse  bones  ever  found. 

2.  The  paleontologist  comes  next.  He  puts  fossil  bones 
together  and  tells  us  what  kind  of  creature  each  animal  was. 
It  is  the  paleontologist  who  describes  horse  bones  in  the 
museum.  He  lets  us  see  for  ourselves  that  they  are  linked 
together  from  generation  to  generation,  and  that  they  make 
up  an  unbroken  chain  of  ancestors  and  descendants. 

Other  fossil  bones  tell  tales  of  monster  creatures  that 
lived  and  changed  and  vanished  from  the  earth  long  before 
man  appeared.  Each  separate  one  yields  its  own  separate 
story,  but  no  set  of  bones  is  easier  to  study,  none  gives  quite 
such  a  straight-ahead  history,  as  the  bones  of  the  horse. 

These  have  been  found  in  North  and  South  America,  in 
Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa.  Of  all  these  places,  however, 
Dr.  Matthew  says  the  best  series  comes  from  what  is  called 
the  Tertiary  Bad  Lands  of  the  Western  United  States. 

As  you  bear  these  bones  in  mind,  turn  to  the  finest  horse 
you  know  and  think  of  his  pedigree.  Also  observe  his  present 
size  and  shape,  his  powerful  muscles,  his  long  and  slender 
legs,  his  neck  just  long  enough  to  carry  his  mouth  to  the 
ground  for  grazing.  Look  at  his  strong,  broad  hoof  (he 
is  the  only  single-hoofed  animal  in  the  world)  and  try  to 
realize  that  it  was  the  ancestors  of  this  horse  that  made  him 
what  he  is  to-day. 

Many  a  man  points  proudly  back  to  an  ancestry  more  noble 
than  himself.  The  horse  might  point  backwards,  too,  not  to 
show  that  once  upon  a  time  he  had  ancestors  bigger,  braver, 
more  glorious  than  he  himself  is  now,  but  simply  to  show 
that  from  small  beginnings  big  results  have  come  —  to  make 
it  plain  that,  quite  without  conscious  purpose,  his  early  an- 
cestors improved  their  opportunities,  adjusted  themselves  to 


Courtesy  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History 

COMPARATIVE  SIZE  OF  THE  ANCIENT  AND  THE  MODERN  HORSE 

The  upper  figure  shows  the  skull  of  a  large  modern  horse.   The  lower  figure  shows 
a  prehistoric  five-toed  horse  restored  and  placed  here  for  comparison.  (After  Osborn) 

41 


42  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

circumstances,  and  thereby  so  influenced  their  descendants 
that  each  generation  passed  a  better  inheritance  on  to  the  next. 

To-day  if  horses  had  the  brain  power  of  man,  if  they  could 
study  the  past  and  talk  about  it  as  man  is  apt  to  do,  each 
would  have  the  right  to  say,  "  Through  the  struggle  of  my 
ancestors  I  am  what  I  am." 

Since  the  laws  of  inheritance  do  not  affect  the  horse  alone, 
since  they  mold  all  other  animals  (including  man),  since  they 
cover  generations  of  time  that  sweep  back  beyond  the  reach 
of  our  reckoning,  we  understand  why  it  is  that  scientists  study 
the  subject  from  year  to  year  with  an  interest  that  never  flags. 
They  are  determined  to  find  out  all  they  can  about  the  laws 
which  control  and  gradually  change  living  beings  as  the 
ages  go  by. 

No  one  has  spoken  more  clearly  on  this  subject  than 
Charles  Darwin.  For  this  reason  the  next  chapter  will  give 
some  of  his  facts. 


CHAPTER  VII 


A  FEW  OF  DARWIN'S  FACTS 

Night  after  night  Charles  Darwin,  already  an  aged  man 
and  famous,  watched  the  actions  of  his  angleworms.  He 
kept  them  in  his  study  in  flowerpots,  for  he  wished  to  find 
out  for  himself  how  ^ 

much  mental  power 
they  had.  He  knew 
they  could  not  see, 
for  they  had  no  eyes  ; 
that  they  could  not 
hear,  for  they  had  no 
ears  ;  that  they  could 
feel,  for  he  had  seen 
them  shrink  from  the 
touch  of  any  sharp 
thing.  But  the  ques- 
tion was,  Did  they 
think  as  well  as  feel  ? 
Did  they  guide  their 
actions  consciously  ? 
This  Charles  Darwin 
wished  to  know. 

It    happens     that 

angleworms  can  only  be  studied  at  night,  because  by  daylight 
they  hide  themselves  underground,  out  of  sight,  but  at  night 
they  stretch  themselves  out  of  their  burrows  and  face  the 

43 


CHARLES  DARWIN 


44 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


world  and  run  the  risk  of  being  captured.  By  night,  there- 
fore, Darwin  not  only  watched  their  operation  in  his  flower- 
pots, but  he  also  took  his  lantern  and  went  into  the  fields  to 
find  them.  Sometimes  they  raised  themselves  on  their  taper- 
ing, bent-over  ends  and  seemed  to  be  giving  strict  attention  ; 
sometimes  they  shrank  back  into  their  burrows  as  if  the  light 
on  their  bodies  gave  unpleasant  sensations.  Darwin  watched 
them  as  they  seized  leaves  and  drew  them  down  to  stop  up 
the  mouths  of  their  burrows.  He  saw  how 
they  saved  their  lives  and  lost  them ;  how 
they  did  their  burrowing  ;  how  they  gathered 
food  and  used  it ;  how  they  survived  the  winter 
rolled  up  in  balls  underground. 

For  years  the  study  went  on,  and  no  doubt 
it  had  really  begun  years  earlier,  when  Darwin 
went  a-fishing  as  a  boy,  for  he  writes  :  "  I  had 
a  strong  taste  for  angling,  and  would  sit  for 
any  number  of  hours  on  the  bank  of  a  river  or 
pond  watching  the  float.  I  was  told  that  I 
could  kill  worms  with  salt  and  water,  and  from 
that  day  I  never  spitted  a  live  worm,  though  at  the  expense, 
probably,  of  some  loss  of  success." 

This,  then,  is  our  introduction  to  the  boy  who  was  to  become 
one  of  the  world's  most  famous  naturalists — the  man  who  was 
to  change  certain  beliefs  of  men  for  all  future  generations.  No 
student  of  inheritance  consents  to  be  ignorant  about  Darwin. 
The  work  of  his  life  lies  between  the  time  when,  as  a  boy, 
he  salted  angleworms  to  save  them  from  pain  on  his  fish- 
hook by  day,  and  when,  as  an  aged  man,  he  studied  angle- 
worms by  night  for  knowledge  of  their  habits.  It  also  appears 
that  from  the  beginning  of  his  life  until  it  ended,  Darwin's 
work  knit  itself  together  as  two  parts. 


A  FEW  OF  DARWIN'S  FACTS  45 

1.  He  gathered  facts. 

2.  He  drew  conclusions  from  his  facts. 

Even  before  he  was  eight  years  old  he  collected  shells  and 
compared  them  with  each  other.  Next  he  began  beetle  col- 
lecting. He  was  now  a  university  student  in  Cambridge, 
England,  and  wherever  he  went  in  his  walks,  he  was  ready  to 
see  beetles  and  to  seize  them.  This  brought  him  to  grief  one 
day,  for,  as  he  says,  "  on  tearing  off  some  old  bark,  I  saw  two 
rare  beetles,  and  seized  one  in  each  hand  ;  then  I  saw  a  third 
and  new  kind,  which  I  could  not  bear  to  lose,  so  I  popped 
the  one  which  I  held  in  my  right  hand  into  my  mouth.  Alas, 
it  ejected  some  intensely  acrid  fluid,  which  burnt  my  tongue 
so  that  I  was  forced  to  spit  the  beetle  out,  which  was  lost,  as 
was  the  third  one." 

And  this  is  but.  a  sample  of  Darwin's  enthusiasm  from 
youth  to  old  age  ;  he  never  lost  it.  On  every  side  he  gathered 
facts,  and  when  he  had  facts  enough,  he  began  to  draw  con- 
clusions. No  doubt  his  largest  field  for  facts  was  South 
America.  When  he  was  twenty-two  years  old,  he  was  asked 
to  go  as  naturalist  on  board  the  Beagle^  He  accepted  the 
invitation ;  spent  five  years  in  sailing  from  one  country  to 
another  ;  made  collections  everywhere  ;  and  when  he  reached 
home  again  in  1836,  he  was  laden  with  treasures  and  with 
the  memory  of  his  experiences. 

While  in  South  America  he  came  upon  unnumbered  fossil 
bones  of  buried  monsters  —  creatures  that  had  lived  there  and 

1  This  was  a  sailing  vessel  of  235  tons  displacement.  It  was  sent  out 
on  a  voyage  of  scientific  investigation  by  the  English  government,  and 
Darwin  went  as  naturalist  for  the  expedition.  As  he  himself  states  it,  "  The 
real  object  of  the  expedition  was'  to  complete  the  survey  of  Patagonia  and 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  to  survey  the  shores  of  Chile,  Peru,  and  some  islands 
of  the  Pacific,  and  to  carry  a  chain  of  chronometrical  measurements  around 
the  world." 


46 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


had  died  there  before  man  had  so  much  as  appeared  on  the 
scene.  He  found  head  bones  of  some,  leg  bones  of  others, 
numberless  huge  teeth,  and  a  few  skeletons  that  were  com- 
plete in  every  detail. 

Darwin  named  one  of  these  the  toxodon.  He  said  it  was 
as  large  as  an  elephant,  and  one  of  the  strangest  animals  ever 
discovered.  By  its  teeth  he  knew  it  had  gnawed  its  food, 
just  as  rats  and  rabbits  also  gnaw  when  they  eat ;  and  from 


THE  BEAGLE  LAID  ASHORE  FOR  REPAIRS 

the  position  of  its  eyes  and  ears  and  nose  he  knew  it  was 
an  animal  that  lived  in  the  water.  In  one  place  he  came 
upon  what  he  calls  "  a  perfect  catacomb  of  monsters  of 
extinct  races." 

Keep  the  giants  themselves  in  mind,  then  note  these  other 
facts :  Within  the  memory  of  man  no  such  creatures  have 
been  alive  in  South  America ;  all  were  extinct  and  turned  to 
fossils  when  man  first  found  himself  in  the  land  which  had 
belonged  to  those  earlier  huge  inhabitants.  So  true  is  this  that 
in  South  America  to-day  the  only  wild  living  creatures  are 


A  FEW  OF  DARWIN'S  FACTS  47 

comparatively  small  —  the  tapir,  the  deer,  the  monkey,  etc. 
Darwin  says  that  ten  specimens  of  the  largest  kinds  weigh 
an  average  of  but  250  pounds  apiece.  It  is  interesting  to 
compare  the  size  of  these  animals  with  the  size  of  those  in 
South  Africa.  There  the  elephant,  the  hippopotamus,  the 
giraffe,  eland,  rhinoceros,  and  others  are  so  large  that  ten 
members  of  the  large  kinds  of  animals  weigh  an  average 
of  6040  pounds  apiece. 

The  strange  fact  about  all  this  is  that  ages  ago  South 
American  animals  were  quite  as  large  as  the  present-day 
monsters  of  South  Africa.  Darwin  says  that  at  the  very  time 
when  the  animals  of  South  America  were  becoming  extinct, 
those  of  South  Africa  stayed  alive  through  their  descendants. 

Another  set  of  Darwin's  facts  had  to  do  with  the  horse. 
History  tells  us  that  when  Columbus  and  his  Spaniards  came 
to  America,  not  a  horse  was  to  be  found  in  the  land.  They 
were,  in  fact,  so  unknown  and  unheard-of  that  when,  years 
afterwards,  a  few  were  brought  over  from  Europe,  the  native 
Indians  looked  at  them  with  curiosity  and  fright.  Im- 
agine, then,  the  surprise  of  Darwin  and  other  naturalists  when 
they  found  fossil  horse  bones  in  different  places  from  the 
northern  extremity  of  North  America  to  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  South  America.  Clearly  enough,  horses  were 
among  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  the  land  ;  yet,  quite  as  clearly, 
not  one  had  survived  to  receive  Columbus.  All  had  died  and 
vanished  from  sight  long  before  man  arrived  in  modern  times. 

Now  it  is  interesting  to  know  that  while  the  largest  early 
animals  were  dying  off  in  South  America  they  were  also 
meeting  the  same  fate  everywhere  else  in  the  world  except 
in  Africa.  The  following  statements  bear  on  this  point. 

I .  Fossil  remains  which  have  been  found  in  Europe,  Asia, 
North  America,  and  South  America  prove  that  ages  ago 


48  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

animals  of  the  same  general  kinds  were  alive  in  all  three 
continents  during  the  same  era  of  the  world's  history. 

2.  The  theory  which  explains  this  is  that  in  early  times 
there  was  land  connection  between  Siberia  and  North  America, 
and  that  the  joining  place  was  where  Bering's  Strait  now 
separates  the  two  continents. 

It  is  supposed  that  in  those  days  this  land  connection  was  a 
well-traveled  road,  across  which  animals  of  every  sort  and  size 
came  as  immigrants  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New.  "  It 
seems  most  probable,"  writes  Darwin,  "  that  the  North  Ameri- 
can elephants,  mastodons,  horses,  and  the  hollow-horned  rumi- 
nants migrated  on  land  since  submerged  near  Behring's  Straits, 
from  Siberia  into  North  America,  and  thence  on  land  since 
submerged  in  the  West  Indies,  into  South  America,  where 
for  a  time  they  mingled  with  the  forms  characteristic  of  that 
southern  continent,  and  have  since  become  extinct." 

From  first  to  last,  Darwin  was  searching  for  facts  which 
might  connect  one  set  of  living  creatures  with  all  others.  He 
wished,  if  possible,  to  relate  the  life  of  the  past  —  even  its 
monsters  —  to  the  life  of  the  present.  More  than  this,  he 
wished  to  relate  the  life  of  the  present  to  the  life  of  the  fu- 
ture. He  hoped  to  find  laws  which  would  make  it  easier  to 
understand  why  there  are  such  countless  varieties  of  living 
creatures  on  the  earth  to-day,  and  what  their  exact  relation 
to  each  other  is.  In  other  words,  the  reason  why  Darwin 
gathered  facts  was  because  he  was  determined  to  find  out  as 
much  as  possible  about  the  progress  of  life  on  the  earth  from 
generation  to  generation,  through  the  ages  of  the  past. 

This  was  the  burden  of  his  ambition,  and  facts  were  pil- 
ing up  as  the  Beagle  continued  its  voyage  to  the  Galapagos 
Islands. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

DARWIN'S  PROBLEM 

The  Galapagos  Islands  lie  on  the  equator,  six  hundred 
miles  from  the  western  coast  of  South  America. 

There  are  ten  islands  in  the  group,  and  here  Darwin  found 
animals  unheard-of  elsewhere  in  the  world  —  tortoises  by  the 


Culpepper  I. 


WenmanL 


60  Miles 


^Abinadon  I. 


Bindloes  I. 


Tower  I. 


Narbcrouah  I. 

Albermarle  I. 


James  I. 


ejatiaa 


Mel. 


Barrinytonl.  Chatham  I. 


Charles  /.      Hood's  1. 

THE  GALAPAGOS  ISLANDS 

thousand,  that  weighed  one  hundred  pounds  apiece  and  over. 
"  I  frequently  got  on  their  backs,"  he  writes,  "  and  then  giv- 
ing a  few  raps  on  the  hinder  part  of  their  shells,  they  would 
rise  up  and  walk  away ;  but  I  found  it  very  difficult  to  keep 

49 


SO  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

my  balance."  Here  were  lizards  two  and  three  feet  long, 
one  "terrestrial,"  the  other  "aquatic"  -"the  latter,"  says 
Darwin,  "  a  hideous  looking  creature  of  a  dirty  black  color, 
stupid  and  sluggish  in  .its  movements."  Sometimes  these 
lizards  weighed  twenty  pounds  apiece  or  more.  They  went 
off  on  swimming  parties  a  hundred  yards  from  shore.  As  a 
certain  sea  captain  said,  "  They  go  to  sea  in  herds  a-fishing, 
and  sun  themselves  on  the  rocks,  and  may  be  called  alliga- 
tors in  miniature." 

In  this  surprising  place  Darwin  found  and  named  new 
species  x  of  plants  and  animals  by  the  dozen  and  the  hundred. 
On  every  side  he  saw  new  birds,  new  reptiles,  new  shells, 
new  insects  ;  and  yet,  as  he  himself  says,  "  by  innumerable 
trifling  details  of  structure,  and  even  by  the  tones  of  voice 
and  plumage  of  the  birds,"  these  various  creatures  reminded 
him  of  those  other  creatures,  similar  yet  so  different,  that 
had  lived  on 'the  "temperate  plains  of  Patagonia  or  the  hot, 
dry  deserts  of  northern  Chile.  .  .  .  What  is  the  explana- 
tion?" he  asks.  "Why  were  they  created  on  American  types 
of  organization  ?  " 

1  A  species  is  a  group  of  plants  or  animals  in  which  the  individuals  are 
very  much  alike.  For  example,  one  species  of  violet  has  white  blossoms, 
another  has  blue  blossoms ;  one  has  round  leaves,  another  has  leaves  of 
lancet  shape.  Each  is  a  different  species,  but  all  are  violets.  Then  there 
are  the  humming  birds.  One  species  is  almost  as  large  as  an  English  spar- 
row, other  species  are  no  larger  than  huge  butterflies.  One  species  has 
bright  feathers  on  its  neck  that  give  it  the  name  mbythroat,  another 
has  half  a  dozen  stiff  red  feathers  that  stand  above  the  others  on  its 
throat.  All  these  are  humming  birds,  but  each  is  a  different  species.  All 
other  animals  and  plants  are  divided  into  species  in  the  same  way.  Scien- 
tists do  this  for  the  sake  of  studying  the  life  of  the  earth.  They  also  put 
different  species  together  to  make  a  larger  group,  called  a  genus.  They 
put  genera  together  to  make  a  family,  and  families  together  to  make  an 
order.  Then  come  classes,  divisions,  and  finally  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdoms. 


DARWIN'S  PROBLEM  51 

He  had  gone  no  farther  than  this  with  his  questions  when 
the  Beagle  returned  to  England  in  I836.1  And  now  began 
a  new  epoch  in  his  life.  He  had  his  collection  of  fossils 
from  South  America.  He  also  had  his  collection  of  modern 
skeletons  from  the  same  country,  from  the  Galapagos  Islands, 
from  England  itself ;  and  he  wished  to  find  some  laws  of 
life  which  would  explain  the  differences  between  them,  and 
which  would,  at  the  same  time,  show  that  all  forms  of  life 
are  connected. 

He  asked  himself  whether  or  not  the  earlier  kinds  became 
extinct  before  the  later  ones  were  created ;  why  they  became 
extinct ;  why  present-day  creatures  on  the  Galapagos  Islands 
are  more  like  the  buried  giants  of  South  America  than  like 
modern  animals  in  Africa ;  why  there  are  so  many  species 
of  different  plants  and  animals  in  the  world,  etc.  The  list 
of  his  questions  was  very  long  when  he  reached  England, 
and  he  saw  that  he  must  have  still  more  facts  before  he  could 
even  try  to  draw  conclusions. 

To  get  these  facts  he  turned  his  attention  to  pigeons,  com- 
paring them  with  each  other.  Among  them  he  found  the 
Carrier  pigeon,  with  its  large  nostrils,  its  wide  mouth,  its 
lengthened  eyelids,  its  long,  steady  flight  over  land  and 
water ;  also  the  Tumbler,  with  its  way  of  flying  high  up 
and  tumbling  down,  heels  over  head,  at  unexpected  moments. 
Then  there  was  the  Pouter,  with  its  stretched-out  body,  wings, 
and  legs,  and  its  enormous  crop,  which  it  proudly  inflates 
to  prodigious  size ;  the  Jacobin,  with  feathers  that  grow 

1  During  this  voyage  the  Beagle  visited  the  following  places,  in  the  order 
in  which  they  are  mentioned :  Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  St.  Paul's  Rocks, 
Fernando,  Noronha,  South  America,  Galapagos  Islands,  Falkland  Islands, 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  Tahiti,  New  Zealand,  Australia,  Tasmania,  Helena,  As- 
cension. The  Beagle  did  not  go  around  the  world,  as  at  first  intended. 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


backward  down  the  back  of  the  neck  and  stand  up  like  a 
hood ;  and,  as  conspicuous  as  any,  the  Fantail,  with  so  many 
feathers  in  its  tail  (thirty  or  forty  instead  of  twelve  or  fourteen) 
that  it  hardly  looks  like  a  pigeon  at  all. 

Darwin  studied  each  kind,  and  he  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  each  had  been  secured  through  man's  careful  selection 

of  pigeon  ancestors  —  that 
not  one  had  been  created  pre- 
cisely as  he  himself  found  it. 
He  even  went  so  far  as  to  say 
he  was  sure  "  that  the  com- 
mon opinion  of  naturalists  is 
correct,  namely,  that  all  have 
descended  from  the  Rock 
pigeon.  ...  At  least  a  score 
of  pigeons  might  be  chosen," 
he  said,  "  which,  if  shown  to 
an  ornithologist  and  he  was 
told  that  they  were  wild  birds, 
would  certainly,  I  think,  be 
ranked  by  him  as  well-defined 
species." 

He  talked  the  matter  over 
with  every  intelligent  bird 
breeder  whom  he  met,  and 

each  assured  him  that  the  one  essential  thing  was  to  select 
ancestors  according  to  what  was  wanted  in  the  next  genera- 
tion. All  acknowledged  that  the  process  took  time.  One  told 
Darwin  that  "  he  could  produce  any  given  feather  in  three 
years,  but  that  it  would  take  six  years  to  produce  head  and 
neck."  In  every  case  this  selecting  was  done  by  the  breeder 
himself.  He  knew  precisely  what  he  wanted. 


THE  WILD  PARENT  OF  NUMEROUS 

DOMESTICATED  PIGEONS  THAT  HAVE 

BEEN  DEVELOPED  BY  SELECTION 

(From     "  Domesticated     Animals     and 
Plants,"  by  E.  Davenport) 


DARWIN'S  PROBLEM 


53 


The  same  was  true  of  sheep  breeders,  and  Darwin  talked 
with  them  too.    "  In  Saxony,"  he  says,  "the  importance  of 


TYPES  OF  PIGEON  DEVELOPED  BY  SELECTION  AND  BREEDING 

i,  Jacobins;  2,  English  Carrier ;  3,  Duchess  ;  4,  Fantails  ;  5,  Birmingham  Tumblers  ; 
6,  English  Pouter.    (From  "  Domesticated  Animals  and  Plants,"  by  E.  Davenport) 

the  principle  of  selection  in  regard  to  merino  sheep  is  so 
fully  recognized  that  men  follow  it  as  a  trade  ;  the  sheep  are 
placed  on  the  table  and  are  studied  like  a  picture  by  the' 


54  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

connoisseur ;  this  is  done  three  times,  at  intervals  of  months, 
and  the  sheep  are  each  time  marked  and  classed,  so  that  the 
very  best  may  ultimately  be  selected  for  breeding.  .  .  .  And," 
he  continues,  "  not  one  man  in  a  thousand  has  accuracy  of 
eye  and  judgment  sufficient  to  become  a  good  breeder."  Lord 
Sommerville  speaks  of  their  success  :  "  It  would  seem  as  if 
they  had  marked  out  upon  a  wall  a  form  perfect  in  itself, 
and  then  had  given  it  existence." 

Do  not  forget  that  all  this  was  before  even  the  best  breeders 
had  heard  of  Mendel's  laws  and  before  Darwin  himself  had 
come  to  any  conclusion  about  the  power  that  controls  the 
changing  forms  of  life.  Remember  that  even  before  Mendel 
and  Darwin  lived,  breeders  knew  the  following  facts  : 

1.  By  choosing  ancestors  they  could  get  the  desired  type 
of  descendants. 

2.  Only  by  preventing  cross  mating  could  these  new  types 
be  preserved. 

Darwin  saw  how  easy  it  is  to  explain  the  beginning  of  any 
species  when  man  is  behind,  controlling  ancestors.  But  he 
wished  to  know  how  it  comes  about  that  wild  animals  have 
changed,  too.  He  wondered  if  there  might  not  be  other  laws 
which  control  descendants  even  when  man  has  nothing  to 
do  with  choosing  ancestors  for  them.  He  believed  there  were 
such  laws,  and  he  hoped  to  find  them. 

Darwin  puzzled  himself  with  this  problem  for  twenty-three 
years,  and  at  last  he  did  what  he  could  to  answer  it,  in  his 
book  "  On  the  Origin  of  Species  by  means  of  Natural 
Selection." 

The  volume  itself  was  published  in  1859.  Twelve  hundred 
and  fifty  copies  were  printed  for  the  first  edition,  and  every 
one  was  sold  on  the  day  of  publication.  Three  thousand  more 
were  printed.  These  went  fast,  too,  and  by  1876  sixteen 


DARWIN'S  PROBLEM  55 

thousand  copies  of  the  book  had  been  printed  and  sold.  It 
was  translated  into  every  European  language  and  was  dis- 
cussed by  scientific  papers  in  every  scientific  center  of  the 
world.  It  was  a  topic  of  talk  for  individual  scientists  as  they 
met  on  the  street,  in  the  lecture  hall,  in  the  drawing-room, 
and  everywhere  else.  Indeed,  the  excitement  was  so  great 
that  college  students  talked  about  the  book  in  club  and  class- 
room. They  sat  up  late  at  night  in  mighty  discussion  over 
Darwin's  problem  and  over  his  solution  of  it.  Certain  mer- 
chants and  preachers  took  up  the  subject  and  waxed  eloquent 
about  it  over  the  counter  and  from  the  pulpit.  And,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  in  every  case  those  who  knew  most  about 
the  facts  of  life  were  usually  most  inclined  to  accept  Darwin's 
theory  about  the  origin  of  species.  At  the  same  time  also,  then 
as  now,  numberless  persons  lived  in  ignorance  of  Darwin's 
book  and  of  what  it  taught. 

Until  he  died,  in  1882,  Darwin  continued  to  gather  facts, 
to  draw  conclusions,  and  to  write  about  them  for  the  benefit 
of  those  who  were  younger  and  more  ignorant  than  he  was. 
When  he  died  he  was  seventy-five  years  old,  honored  and 
loved  by  thinkers  the  world  over.  His  fame  came  through 
the  success  he  had  in  studying  certain  problems  of  life,  for 
his  theory  of  evolution  had  turned  upside  down  some  of  the 
cherished  beliefs  of  the  centuries.  It  was  he  who  joined 
facts  together  in  what  we  shall  call  the  "  five-linked  chain." 


CHAPTER  IX 


FIVE  LINKS  TO  THE  CHAIN 
I.  THE  PRODIGALITY  OF  NATURE 

At  ten  o'clock  this  morning  I  sat  on  the  veranda  and 
watched  flying  objects  that  traveled  through  the  air  ready  for 
planting  and  for  growing.  Dandelion  seeds,  by  scores  and  by 

hundreds,  sailed  across  my 
vision  like  small  parachutes 
bearing  a  precious  burden. 
Maple  seeds,  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  them,  whirred 
by  in  zigzag  fashion,  steered 
without  hands,  guided  by 
their  delicate  paddle  rudders. 
They  too  bore  their  treasure 
of  life  and  were  ready  for 
growing.  Elm-tree  seeds 
by  the  hundred  thousand 
showered  down  like  brown 
snowflakes  in  the  sunshine, 
and  rolled  over  each  other  as  if  in  a  panic  of  haste  to  find 
a  lodging  place  for  the  elm  trees  of  the  next  generation.1 

As  I  watched  all  this  I  thought  about  the  wasteful  extrava- 
gance of  nature.  At  the  same  time  I  stepped  out  to  do  some 
counting.  Within  one  square  inch  of  space  I  found  twenty-five 

1  These  different  kinds  of  seeds  are  not  all  in  their  prime  at  the  same 
time,  but  in  Ohio  their  seasons  overlap  each  other. 

56 


DANDELION  SEEDS  READY  FOR 
FLIGHT 


FIVE  LINKS  TO  THE  CHAIN 


57 


MAPLE  SEEDS 


elm  seeds  crowded  together  in  a  heap.  Near  by,  in  another 
heap,  on  another  inch  of  ground,  were  fifteen  maple  seeds 
piled  upon  each  other,  and  there  were  many  square  yards 

of  surface  almost  as  thickly 
covered.  One  dainty  dandelion 
stalk  carried  one  hundred  and 
fifty-four  tiny  parachutes  in  full 
sail,  ready  to  fly  off  when  the  next 
carrier  breeze  came  that  way. 

All  this  was  on  my  own  lawn 
one  bright  spring  morning.  I 
then  thought  of  the  wooded 

groves  just  outside  of  town.  I  remembered  the  trees,  the 
shrubs,  the  weeds,  and  the  wild  flowers — some  in  full  bloom, 
others  already  gone  to  seed.  I  knew  that  millions  of  seeds 
were  under  the  trees  and  on  the  shrubs  in  every  forest  during 
every  spring  season.  I  also  knew  that  no  more  than  tens  or 
hundreds  of  these  seeds  ever  take  root  and  grow. 

I  thought  of  the  rivers  too,  and  of  the  lakes,  the  ponds, 
and  the  ocean,  with  their  millions  of  fish  e£gs  laid  in  every 
breeding  spot — multitudes  never  to  be  hatched, 
other  multitudes  to  be  devoured  by  bigger  fish 
as  soon  as  hatched,  and  very  few  to  live  long 
enough  to  pass  life  on  to  the  next  generation. 
"  Prodigality,  prodigality,  on  every  side !  "  was 
my  exclamation. 

Next  I  turned  to  printed  records  and  looked 
for  added  facts  of  the  same  sort. 

Dr.  Thompson  says  that  a  cod  is  reported  to  have  two 
million  eggs,  and  that  "  if  these  all  developed  into  cods,  there 
would  soon  be  no  more  fishing."  This  means  that  the  ocean 
would  be  so  full  of  swarming,  struggling,  dying  cod,  that 


ELM  SEED 


58  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

immigrants  and  emigrants  alike  would  be  able  to  walk  across 
a  slippery  cod  pathway  between  Europe  and  America. 

Dr.  Thompson  also  says  that  "  if  all  the  progeny  of  one 
oyster  survived  and  multiplied,  its  great-great-grandchildren 
would  number  sixty-six  with  thirty-three  noughts  after  it 
(66,000,000, 000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000,000),  and  the 
heap  of  shells  would  be  eight  times  the  size  of  the  world." 

No  human  mind  can  grasp  such  figures  as  these.  They 
are  indeed  extreme  examples  of  the  first  law  of  Darwin's 
famous  five-linked  chain. 

II.  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE 
The  second  law  follows  as  a  matter  of  course.  Indeed, 
there  is  no  escaping  it,  for  with  creatures  of  every  kind 
multiplying  at  this  rate,  —  with  each  of  them  obliged  to 
find  food  or  die,  —  the  competition  grows  terrific.  It  becomes 
a  struggle  merely  to  keep  alive.  This,  then,  is  the  second 
link  of  Darwin's  chain. 

It  seems  a  peaceful  world  as  I  glance  out  of  my  window 
at  the  present  moment.  But,  without  seeing  it  done,  I  know 
that  all  forms  of  life  are  struggling  not  merely  for  food  but 
for  very  existence  too.  Large  insects  are  living  on  those  that 
are  smaller  ;  small  birds  are  living  on  large  insects  ;  birds  are 
killing  worms ;  cats  are  killing  birds ;  dogs  are  killing  rabbits  ; 
man  is  killing  and  eating  birds  and  beasts  of  many  different 
kinds ;  microbes  are  killing  millions  of  creatures  both  large 
and  small ;  and  man  is  killing  microbes. 

The  slaughter  is  universal ;  the  conflict  is  colossal.    It  con- 
tinues on  every  side  every  day,  and  it  is  inevitable.    For  if  the 
supply  of  plants  and  animals  were  not  limited  in  some  way, 
—  if  all  eggs  were  allowed  to  hatch  and  if  all  young  animals 
lived  on  to  good  old  age,  —  there  would  soon  be  such  a  battle 


FIVE  LINKS  TO  THE  CHAIN  59 

on  the  earth  as  has  never  been  dreamed  of  heretofore.  Swarm- 
ing millions  of  creatures  would,  within  a  few  days,  crowd  out 
of  sight  even  the  standing  space  of  the  earth.  Soon  after- 
ward the  food  supply  of  the  world  would  be  used  up,  and 
starvation  would  face  all  save  those  who  found  it  possible 
to  support  their  own  lives  by  taking  other  lives. 

This  is  no  fancy  picture.  It  would  be  the  inevitable  state 
of  things  if  the  prodigality  of  nature  were  not  checked  some- 
how. Fortunately  there  are  checks  on  every  side.  Wind  and 
weather,  flood  and  fire;  take  part  in  limiting  the  numbers  of 
those  that  are  to  survive  for  a  next  generation.  For  the 
struggle  is  not  simply  between  the  individuals  themselves 
but  also  between  each  individual  and  its  surroundings.  Clearly 
enough,  then,  the  maimed,  the  weak,  and  the  inefficient  gen- 
erally have  the  poorest  chance  to  live  and  become  ancestors. 
And  it  is  just  because  they  do  not  live  long  enough  to  be- 
come ancestors  that  the  race  escapes  deterioration.  On  every 
side  they  are  crowded  out  in  the  struggle. 

III.  VARIATION 

This  fact  brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  third  link  in  Dar- 
win's chain.  He  noticed  that  while  some  animals  of  a  species, 
are  large,  others  of  the  same  species  are  small ;  where  some 
are  strong,  others  are  weak ;  where  some  have  keen  intelli- 
gence, others  are  slow  of  understanding.  He  saw  that  always 
and  everywhere,  among  all  kinds  of  plants  and  animals,  there 
are  contrasts,  differences,  and  variations.  On  this  fact  he 
based  what  he  called  the  law  of  variation.  It  is  the  third 
link  in  Darwin's  chain.  Follow  it  now  somewhat  in  detail. 

When  rain  was  withheld  for  some  months  in  South  Amer- 
ica, Darwin  saw  thousands  of  animals  die  for  lack  of  water ; 
yet  there  is  such  variety  in  the  power  of  animals  to  endure 


60  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

thirst,  that  some  did  not  die.  When  food  failed  for  birds  in 
snow-covered  Ohio  during  the  winter  of  1913,  farmers  found 
many  of  them  dead  in  the  frozen  fields ;  yet  there  is  such 
difference  in  the  power  of  birds  to  endure  hunger  for  longer 
or  shorter  periods,  and  such  variety  in  their  ability  to  hunt  for 
food,  that  many  of  them  did  not  die. 

In  1885,  when  typhoid  microbes  found  their  way  into  the 
water  supply  of  Plymouth,  Pennsylvania,  noo  men,  women, 
and  children  had  the  fever  and  were  threatened  with  death  ; 
but  there  is  such  a  difference  in  the  power  of  individuals  to 
resist  disease  that,  although  114  persons  died,  986  of  those 
who  were  ill  did  not  die,  and  hundreds  of  others  who  had  used 
the  same  contaminated  water  were  not  even  affected  by  it.1 

When  seven  men  offered  themselves  for  the  yellow-fever 
tests  in  Cuba  in  1900,  all  were  bitten  by  mosquitoes  loaded 
with  blood  from  yellow-fever  victims.  But  even  against  this 
disease  there  is  a  difference  in  the  power  of  the  body  to  pro- 
tect itself.  One  man  escaped  with  no  touch  of  the  fever 
whatever,  six  were  ill.  with  it,  and  one  man  died.2 

Many  other  cases  might  be  cited  of  persons  who,  overtaken 
by  calamity,  have  escaped  death  because  they  had  some  power 
pf  endurance  which  those  who  died  lacked. 

IV.    SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST  3 

We  are  now  within  sight  of  the  fourth  link  of  Darwin's 
chain.  He  says  that,  because  of  the  universal  law  of  variation, 

1  Described  in  "Town  and  City,"  of  the  Gulick  Hygiene  Series,  p.  107. 

2  Described  in  "  Town  and  City,"  pp.  234-235. 

3  Darwin  first  called  this  the  law  of  natural  selection,  meaning  that  the 
selecting  was  done  without  man's  help ;  but  some  people  misunderstood 
his  meaning,  so  he  adopted  the  phrase  survival  of  the  fittest,  which  Herbert 
Spencer  used.    It  means  precisely  the  same  thing  as  natural  selection,  is 
easy  to  understand,  and  is  the  term  in  common  use  to-day. 


FIVE  LINKS  TO  THE  CHAIN  6 1 

some  members  of  each  species  are  different  enough  from  the 
others  to  survive  in  spite  of  threatened  destruction.  In  other 
words,  he  tells  us  that  it  is  the  fit  who  survive.  This,  then,  is 
the  fourth  link  to  the  growing  chain. 

See  how  this  law  works  itself  out.  Some  creatures  have 
longer  legs  and  are-  therefore  better  fitted  than  their  mates  to 
run  away  when  danger  threatens.  Some  have  stronger  claws 
with  which  to  kill  the  foe  before  being  killed  themselves. 
Some  have  keener  eyesight  with  which  to  discover  danger 
or  to  sight  it  from  a  distance  and  to  escape  it.  Some  have 
keener  scent  with  which  to  trace  both  food  and  danger.  Some 
can  live  longer  than  others  when  deprived  of  water.  Some  can 
survive  a  famine  where  others  die  in  the  midst  of  it. 

Thus,  in  one  way  and  another,  in  every  group  of  animals, 
when  the  critical  moment  comes,  certain  individuals  are  better 
fitted  to  survive  than  are  their  neighbors.  This  does  on  no 
account  mean  that  the  fittest  are  always  the  largest,  the 
tallest,  the  keenest-eyed,  the  bravest,  the  strongest,  or  the 
longest-legged.  Certainly  not.  The  huge  animals  of  South 
America  were  bigger  than  any  of  those  that  crowded  them 
out ;  English  sparrows  of  the  United  States  are  smaller  than 
bluebirds,  swallows,  robins,  the  purple  martin,  and  other  birds 
that  please  us ;  but  the  smaller  sparrow  attacks  the  larger 
birds,  takes  up  their  nesting  places,  destroys  their  eggs,  and 
finally  succeeds  in  driving  them  from  our  villages. 

During  heavy  storms  it  is  the  birds  with  small  bodies  and 
strong  legs  and  wings  that  survive,  while  birds  with  large 
bodies  and  small  wings  die  in  greatest  numbers. 

Judging  by  appearance,  certain  animals  —  the  donkey,  for 
example  —  were  better  fitted  to  survive  when  their  ears  were 
large.  It  was  different  with  moles.  Living  and  working 
underground  as  they  did,  ears  were  a  nuisance ;  they  got  in 


62  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

the  way.  For  this  reason  those  with  the  smallest  ears  were 
best  fitted  to  survive,  and  now  we  have  the  modern  mole 
with  ears  so  small  that  they  are  not  worthy  of  mention.  The 
change  has  come  about  gradually,  step  by  step,  through  the 
laws  of  variation,  the  struggle  for  existence,  and  the  survival 
of  the  fittest.  Nevertheless,  none  of  these  laws  would  be  of 
the  slightest  value  from  one  generation  to  the  next  without 
that  supreme  law  which  forms  the  fifth  and  final  link  to 
Darwin's  chain. 

V.  HEREDITY 

The  mere  mention  of  this  word  carries  us  back  to  the  first 
chapters  of  the  book.  It  calls  to  mind  Andalusian  fowls  and 
guinea  pigs.  It  reminds  us  of  all  that  inheritance  does  for 
the  next  generation  and  the  next,  when  man  selects  ancestors 
and  decides  to  bring  about  definite  changes  in  animal  de- 
scendants. But  remember  that  Darwin  was  searching  for 
laws  which  control  the  destiny  of  all  descendants,  whether 
their  ancestors  are  selected  by  man  or  not. 

No  human  power  ever  chose  the  ancestors  of  the  wild 
animals  of  to-day.  Nevertheless,  Darwin  believed  that  these 
same  ancestors  were  selected  relentlessly  by  the  five  laws 
which  controlled  their  fate  —  prodigality,  the  struggle  for 
existence,  variation,  survival  of  the  fittest,  heredity.  He  be- 
lieved that  all  creatures  that  live  to-day  are  what  they  are 
because  the  laws  of  nature  chose  their  ancestors  for  them. 

Now  connect  the  five  links  and  apply  the  chain  to  last 
year's  codfish.  By  the  law  of  prodigality,  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  eggs  were  laid.  Most  of  these  were  destroyed 
before  hatching  time  came.  After  hatching,  the  struggle  for 
existence  began.  By  the  law  of  variation  these  young  cod- 
fish differed  from  one  another  as  they  continued  the  struggle. 
By  the  law  of  survival  of  the  fittest  only  those  who  were 


FIVE  LINKS  TO  THE  CHAIN  63 

most  fit  to  survive  were  able  to  hold  to  life  long  enough  to 
become  ancestors.  .  By  the  law  of  heredity  the  characters 
of  those  that  did  survive  were  passed  on  to  their  codfish 
descendants. 

Scientists  are  still  discussing  Darwin's  chain.  Some  put 
the  emphasis  on  this  link,  some  on  that,  but  all  agree  in 
his  claim  that,  even  as  all  kinds  of  pigeons  are  descended 
from  the  same  original  ancestor,  so  too  are  all  kinds  of  fish 
descended  from  their  original  ancestor,  all  kinds  of  birds 
from  theirs,  all  mammals  from  theirs,  and  so  on  through  the 
entire  list. 

With  one  accord,  indeed,  scientists  of  to-day  accept  Dar- 
win's conclusion  that,  from  the  beginning  of  time  until  now, 
laws  of  nature  have  controlled  the  changing  forms  of  life ; 
that  each  living  creature  of  to-day  is  joined  by  close  connec- 
tion to  its  ancestors  of  the  past ;  that  living  creatures  both 
of  the  past  and  of  the  present  move  through  the  ages  as  a 
procession  marching  in  lock  step,  and  that  every  form  of  life 
is  linked  to  distant  ancestors  by  an  endless  chain  of  cause 
and  effect. 

Through  Darwin's  discoveries  we  see  that  creative  power 
has  raised  a  structure  of  life  on  the  earth  which  is  welded 
together  from  foundation  to  summit.  The  evidences  of  this 
evolution  are  about  us  on  every  hand,  and  the  next  chapter 
points  out  a  few  of  them. 


CHAPTER  X 

EVIDENCES  OF   EVOLUTION 

Watch  swimming  fish  in  any  pond  or.  aquarium ;  even 
goldfish  in  a  glass  jar  will  answer  the  purpose.  Notice  those 
two  small  flaps,  one  on  each  side  of  the  head.  See  them  open 
and  shut,  and  open  and  shut  again,  with  never-failing  regu- 
larity. They  cover  what  are  known  as  the  gill-slits.  These 


DOGFISH  WITH  GILL-SLITS  WHERE  THE  ARROWS  POINT 

slits  open  out  from  the    gills,  and  gills  are  the  breathing 
apparatus  of  the  fish.1 

Notice  also  that  the  mouth  of  the  fish  is  open,  too,  and  that, 
although  he  seems  to  be  swallowing  mouthful  after  mouthful 
of  water,  he  really  gets  nothing  to  eat.  The  truth  is,  he  is 
simply  breathing  with  his  mouth  open.  If  he  should  shut  his 
mouth  and  keep  it  shut,  he  would  die  of  suffocation.  To  keep 
alive  he  needs  oxygen  as  much  as  we  do,  and  the  only  way 
he  can  get  it  is  by  taking  water  into  his  mouth  and  sending 

1  Blood  which  circulates  in  the  membranes  of  the  gills  takes  oxygen  from 
water  which  passes  over  them,  just  as  blood  which  circulates  in  the  mem- 
branes of  lung  cells  takes  oxygen  from  the  air  which  enters  the  lungs. 

64 


EVIDENCES  OF  EVOLUTION  65 

it  out  again  through  his  gills  within  his  gill-slits.  As  the 
water  passes  along,  the  red-blood  corpuscles  in  the  gills  take 
out  all  the  oxygen  they  need. 

When  fish  are  drawn  out  of  water  and  left  on  land,  they  die 
because  they  cannot  get  oxygen  from  the  water  in  their  usual 
way,  through  their  gills.  When  we  are  held  under  water,  we 
die  because  we  cannot  get  oxygen  from  the  air  in  our  usual 
way,  through  the  lungs. 

Since  this  is  the  case,  zoologists1  expected  to  find  gill- 
slits  in  embryo2  fish,  and  lungs  in  the  embryos  of  animals 
that  take  their  oxygen  directly  from  the  air.  Imagine,  then, 
the  surprise  of  these  men  when  they  found  gill-slits  and 
lungs  too  in  the  embryo  of  all  vertebrates,  whether  they  were 
fish  or  not. 

Birds  that  are  to  live  in  trees  and  never  swim,  mice  and 
men,  monkeys  and  elephants,  snakes  and  bats  and  vertebrate 
beasts  of  every  sort  —  all  these  have  gill-slits  in  the  neck 
during  the  embryo  stage.  At  the  same  time  those  that  are 
to  breathe  air  after  birth  have  embryo  lungs  too. 

And  this  is  not  all.  Even  in  Darwin's  day  the  bodies  of 
animals  held  other  mysteries  which  no  man  could  explain. 
It  was  well  known  that  full-grown  whales  have  rudiments  3  of 
hind  legs  concealed  under  the  flesh  ;  that  all  embryo  whales 
have  rudimentary  teeth,  although  after  birth  some  kinds 
never  have  any  teeth  in  their  jaws  ;  that  the  python  and 
the  boa  have  rudiments  of  legs  never  used,  never  desired ; 
that  calves  before  they  are  born  have  beginnings  of  front  teeth 
in  the  upper  jaw  which  never  cut  through  the  gums  after 
birth.  Notice  that  no  cow  has  front  teeth  on  the  upper  jaw. 

1  A  zoologist  is  a  student  of  animal  life. 

2  Before  birth  a  creature  is  called  an  embryo. 

8  A  rudiment  is  the  beginning  or  foundation  of  any  part  or  organ. 


66  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

The  list  might  be  made  still  longer.  But  no  one  explained 
these  rudiments  of  legs,  teeth,  gill-slits,  etc.  until  Darwin 
came  with  his  five-linked  chain  and  his  proofs.  He  said  that 
through  millions  of  years  unused  parts  of  the  body  become 
more  and  more  inefficient,  until,  in  course  of  time,  they  have 
no  power  left. 

To  prove  this,  think  of  the  ancestral  horse  and  his  useless 
toes.  Think  of  the  fish  in  the  dark  recesses  of  Mammoth 
Cave,  Kentucky.  They  are  blind,  but  they  have  rudiments 
of  eyes. 

Parasites  in  particular  show  the  same  degeneration  from 
lack  of  use.  One  of  the  most  extraordinary  among  these  is 
the  sacculina,  as  described  by  Dr.  David  Starr  Jordan. 

It  begins  life  by  looking  very  much  like  a  young  crab. 
Both  creatures  have  feelers,  swimming  apparatus,  eyes, 
heart,  brain,  etc.  But  soon  a  change  sets  in.  The  crab,  on 
the  one  hand,  goes  on  developing.  Feelers  grow  longer, 
brain  grows  bigger,  eyes  continue  active,  the  heart  never 
stops  beating.  In  other  words,  the  crab  keeps  active  in  every 
part  and  grows  as  it  should.  Not  so  with  the  sacculina. 
Soon  after  birth  it  fastens  itself  to  the  body  of  any  conven- 
ient crab  and  stays  there  the  rest  of  its  life.  It  first  sends  a 
slender  feeler  down  into  the  blood  stream  of  the  crab.  This 
feeler  lengthens  each  day  like  a  ramifying  root.  At  the  same 
time  branches  of  the  root  grow  in  this  direction  and  that  until 
they  have  entered  the  entire  system  of  crab  blood  vessels. 
And  as  they  ramify,  they  draw  up  from  the  blood  of  the  crab 
all  the  nourishment  the  sacculina  needs.  Feelers  have  there- 
fore no  work  to  do  in  hunting  for  food.  Eyes  are  needed 
no  longer.  Heart  and  brain  cease  to  serve.  As  a  result  they 
disappear,  one  after  the  other,  until  the  sacculina  finds  itself 
nothing  but  a  sac  fastened  to  the  body  -of  the  crab  —  a  sac 


EVIDENCES  OF  EVOLUTION  67 

with  root  processes  and  reproductive  organs.  Everything  else 
is  gone,  and,  as  the  illustration  shows,  the  parasite  finally 
looks  more  like  a  growth  of  the  crab  itself  than  like  a  sepa- 
rate creature.  The  sacculina  lives  as  long  as  the  crab  lives, 
and  when  the  crab  dies,  it  must  die  too. 

Now  this  record  is  simply  an  illustration  of  the  result  of 
disuse.   Somewhat  the  same  thing  happens  in  other  animals. 


SACCULINA  ON  THE  ABDOMEN  OF  A  CRAB 

Notice  how  the  root  processes  of  this  parasite  ramify  through  the  legs  and 
the  body  of  the  crab.    (Adapted  from  Parker  and  Haswell) 

In  many  cases,  however,  unused  parts  remain  as  mere  rudi- 
ments through  later  generations.  Darwin  makes  three  state- 
ments concerning  this  whole  matter,  which  may  be  condensed 
as  follows  : 

1 .  All  organs  degenerate  by  disuse. 

2.  As  any  race  of  animals  grows  more  and  more  success- 
ful in  the  struggle  for  existence,  it  develops  new  organs  and 


68  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

may  stop  using  old  ones.  If  it  stops  using  any  part  of  its 
body,  that  part  may  be  inherited  as  a  rudiment. 

3.  The  embryo  of  many  vertebrates  tells  by  its  different 
parts  what  the  history  of  the  evolution  of  its  ancestors  has 
been. 

For  example,  when  we  find  rudimentary  teeth  in  the  front 
upper  jaw  of  an  embryo  calf,  we  know  that  once  upon  a  time 
the  ancestors  of  this  calf  had  well-developed  upper  front  teeth 
to  aid  them  in  their  eating.  When  we  find  rudimentary 
legs  hidden  under  the  flesh  of  full-grown  whales,  we  know 
that,  in  the  ages  of  the  past,  whale  ancestors  used  legs  instead 
of  fins  for  locomotion. 

So,  too,  with  gill-slits.  When  we  find  rudiments  of  these  in 
any  embryo,  we  know  that  somewhere  back  in  bygone  ages 
the  ancestors  of  this  particular  embryo  lived  in  water  and 
breathed  through  gill-slits. 

Evidently,  then,  each  rudiment  is  nothing  less  than  a 
signboard — a  reminder  of  the  road  by  which  developing 
creatures  have  traveled  from  the  past  to  the  present.  Each 
is  a  so-called  ancestral  reminiscence.  Each  declares  that 
in  the  struggle  for  existence  this  organ  or  that  had  to  be 
given  up,  and  that  other  organs  were  developed  instead. 

Our  modern  whale  tells  the  story  of  a  double  change.  To- 
day he  is  a  queer  combination  —  a  mammal  that  lives  in 
water  and  uses  lungs  for  breathing.  But  his  rudimentary 
legs  and  his  rudimentary  teeth  prove  that  at  some  time  in 
the  past  his  ancestors  were  out-and-out  land  animals  that 
roamed  the  fields  on  sturdy  legs  and  used  good-sized  teeth 
for  chewing. 

Also,  by  his  embryonic  gill-slits  the  same  whale  tells  us 
that  even  before  he  was  a  land  animal  his  ancestors  were 
water  animals  with  gill-slits  for  their  breathing  apparatus. 


EVIDENCES  OF  EVOLUTION 


69 


At  the  present  time  every  whale  in  every  ocean  uses 
lungs  and  not  gills  when  he  breathes.  Nevertheless,  as  a 
reminder  of  the  ancient  road  which  their  ancestors  traveled, 
every  embryo  of  every  whale  has  the  double  outfit  —  lungs 
and  gill-slits  too. 

Thus  it  is  that  rudiments  repeat  over  and  over  again  the 
long-drawn  history  of  whale  life.  They  show  how  the  struggle 
for  existence  drove  some  early  ancestors  first  from  water  to 
land,  then  back  again  from  land  to  water.  Scientists  say  that 


RORQUAL,  THE  GIANT  OF  THE  ARCTIC  SEAS 

One  of  these  whales,  captured  on  the  British  coast,  measured  95  feet  in  length 
and  weighed  249  tons 

by  learning  how  to  live  in  one  environment  after  another,  as 
they  did,  whales  have  shown  that  they  were  better  fitted  to 
survive  than  many  of  their  fellow  monsters  who  perished 
in  the  struggle.  And  all  this  lends  a  glow  of  romance  to  our 
modern  whale,  yet  he  himself  is  as  indifferent  as  if  no  line 
of  struggling  ancestors  had  made  him  what  he  is. 

For  the  sake  of  studying  the  evidences  of  evolution  in 
close  relation  to  each  other,  they  are  now  summarized  in  five 
separate  statements. 


70  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

1 .  Structural  evidence  derived  from  the  form  and  general 
make-up  of  animals.    It  is  often  found  in  rudimentary  bones 
and  organs  —  leg  bones  of  the  whale,  for  example,  toe  bones 
of  the  horse,  etc.    Darwin  himself  was  thinking  of  structural 
evidence  when  he  wrote,  ''What  can  be  more  curious  than  that 
the  hand  of  man,  formed  for  grasping,  the  leg  of  the  horse, 
the  paddle  of  the  porcupine,  and  the  wing  of  the  bat,  should 
all  be  constructed  on  the  same  pattern,  and  should  include 
the  same  bones  in  the  same  relative  position." 

2.  Embryological  evidence.   This  includes  such  rudiments 
as  are  found  in  the  embryo  alone  —  gill-slits,  for  example. 
Without  this   important  embryological  evidence  we  should 
not  so  much  as  suspect  that  in  early  ages  all  vertebrates 
lived  in  the  water. 

3.  Geological   evidence  gathered  from  fossil  bones  etc. 
This  gives  us  the  pedigree  of  the  horse  back  to  his  five-toed 
ancestors,  and  shows  what  kind  of  creatures  lived  on  the  earth 
before  man  himself  arrived. 

4.  Geographical  evidence.  This  shows  that  creatures  which 
are  most  alike  are  found  nearest  together. 

5.  Experimental    evidence.     Man    gets  this   for   himself 
when  he  chooses  different  varieties  and  breeds  new  species 
of  animals. 

Taken  all  together,  these  five  kinds  of  evidence  prove  that 
at  some  time  in  the  past  all  vertebrates  were  very  much  more 
alike  than  their  descendants  are  to-day  ;  and,  as  we  have  seen, 
these  present  differences  are  the  result  of  the  combined  action 
of  environment  and  heredity1.  The  two,  working  together, 
have  caused  such  specialization  along  different  lines  that  we 
now  have  many  different  types  of  vertebrates.  Some  of  these 

1  "By  heredity  we  mean  organic  resemblance  based  on  descent."  - 
Castle. 


EVIDENCES  OF  EVOLUTION  71 

live  in  the  air,  some  live  in  the  water,  and  some,  as  ourselves, 
live  on  land. 

And  throughout  the  history  of  it  all  we  see  that  in  every 
case  it  was  the  fittest  ancestors  that  were  able  to  change  their 
habits  of  life,  able  to  save  themselves  from  extinction  when  the 


THE  LUNGFISH  THAT  LIVES  BOTH  ON  LAND  AND  IN  THE  WATER 

In  1913  this  fish  was  sent  alive  from  the  Gambia  region  of  Africa  to  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History  in  New  York  City.  It  came  "coiled  up  in  a  kind  of 
cocoon,  deeply  sunken  in  a  large  clod  of  earth  which  months  before  had  been  the 
bottom  of  a  stream."  There  was  an  opening  through  the  clod  so  that  air  reached 
the  fish.  This  kind  of  fish  "  breathes  by  means  of  gills  when  in  the  water,  but  with 
a  lung  during  the  summer  drought,  inhaling  and  exhaling  air  as  if  it  were  a  land- 
living  animal."  In  its  degree  of  development  it  belongs  with  fossil  fish  that  lived 
millions  of  years  ago,  because  it  is  a  transitional  type  —  a  water  animal  that  is  be- 
coming a  land  animal.  The  fish  died  soon  after  reaching  New  York,  and  its  body 
is  preserved  in  the  Museum 

struggle  was  on,  and  able  to  pass  certain  kinds  of  characters 
on  to  the  next  generation. 

Thus  it  is  that  each  generation  takes  its  part  in  changing 
the  history  of  later  generations.  But  this  is  not  all.  The  next 
chapter  introduces  another  side  of  the  subject.  It  shows  what 
the  difference  is  between  characters  that  can  be  passed  on  and 
characters  which  can  never  be  passed  on  by  inheritance. 


CHAPTER  XI 

ACQUIRED  CHARACTERS  AND  MUTATIONS 

A  young  mother  expressed  the  greatest  disappointment 
over  the  fact  that  her  daughter  was  not  musical. 

"  I  simply  cannot  understand  it,"  she  exclaimed.  "  Before 
the  child  was  born  I  spent  hours  every  day  practicing  the 
piano,  because  I  was  determined  to  have  at  least  one  musical 
person  in  the  family.  Does  n't  science  say  that  we  can  stamp 
our  children  this  way  or  that  before  they  are  born  ?  I  have 
proved  that  we  can't." 

"  Has  she  no  musical  ability  whatever  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  None  at  all,"  was  the  answer  ;  "  neither  have  I ;  neither 
has  her  father.  That's  precisely  why  I  practiced  so.  I  was 
trying  to  help  the  family  out.  I  wanted  to  put  musical  power 
into  it." 

"And  you  failed  ? "  I  asked. 

"  Absolutely,"  was  the  answer. 

"The  trouble  was  with  your  own  lack  of  information,"  I 
continued.  She  looked  surprised,  but  I  gave  her  no  time  to 
speak.  "The  process  of  evolution  proves  that  we  stamp  our 
children  according  to  what  we  are  in  ourselves,  not  accord- 
ing to  what  we  make  ourselves  do.  The  doing  is  n't  going  to 
stamp  children  before  they  are  born  ;  it  is  the  being  that  does 
it.  Is  n't  your  daughter  rather  persistent  ?  " 

"  Indeed  she  is,"  said  the  woman,  looking  at  me  in  as- 
tonishment. "  She's  the  most  persistent  thing  you  ever  saw. 
But  what  gave  you  the  idea?  You  haven't  even  seen  her." 

72 


ACQUIRED  CHARACTERS  AND  MUTATIONS      73 


"No,"  I  answered,  "but  from  your  story  I  see  that  you 
yourself  are  persistent,  not  musical.  Where  was  her  musical 
taste  to  come  from  if  neither  you  nor  her  father  had  it  ? 
You  mustn't  blame  her.  Laws  of  nature  are  responsible." 

This  true  story  shows  how  it  is 
that  uninformed  people  often  expect 
to  secure  what  they  desire  without 
any  reference  to  the  laws  of  nature. 

For  three  hundred  years  and  over, 
Chinese  mothers  bound  the  feet  of 


CHINESE  SHOES  Two  AND  ONE  HALF  INCHES  LONG 

The  one  on  the  left  has  been  worn ;  the  one  on  the  right  shows  how  the  foot  was 
bandaged  and  cramped  above  the  shoe 

their  young  daughters,  and  from  generation  to  generation 
those  feet  were  cramped  from  girlhood  to  middle  age,  old  age, 
and  death.  Surely,  if  ever  an  acquired  character1  was  to  be 

1  An  acquired  character  is  secured  by  an  individual  during  his  own  life, 
not  by  inheritance.  Professor  Weismann  was  the  first  scientist  to  give  the 
words  acquired  character  their  present  meaning.  He  says,  "  Acquired  char- 
acters are  those  which  result  from  external  influence  upon  the  organism,  in 
contrast  to  such  as  spring  from  the  constitution  of  the  germ." 


74  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

inherited  by  oncoming  generations  of  girls,  this  was  the  one. 
Mothers  and  grandmothers,  great-grandmothers  and  great- 
great-grandmothers,  back  in  direct  line  through  all  these 
generations,  had  done  what  they  could  to  compel  Chinese 
women  to  have  small  feet.  And  what  success  did  they  have  ? 
Each  baby  born  in  each  generation  had  as  perfect  feet  as 
if  no  ancestral  bones  had  ever  been  deformed.  Moreover, 
when  those  feet  were  allowed  to  grow,  they  became  as  large 
and  well  shaped  as  if  there  never  had  been  any  foot-binding 
in  China. 

This  illustrates  the  fate  of  acquired  characters.  Facts  show 
that  they  are  not  passed  on.  A  woman  may  crimp  her  hair 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  but  unless  she  marries  a  man 
with  curly  hair,  or  unless  there  has  been  curly  hair  some- 
where back  in  the  ancestry  of  the  father  or  the  mother,  she 
will  not  succeed  in  giving  curly  hair  to  her  children  or  to  her 
children's  children. 

Other  characters  are  acquired,  too.  Eyes  that  have  been 
weakened  through  overstrain  ;  hands  calloused  through  rough 
work ;  faces  tanned  through  exposure ;  firm  or  flabby  muscles ; 
bent  or  straight  backs;  stiff  or  limber  joints — these  and  many 
others  are  acquired  characters.  They  can  never  teach  the  next 
generation  through  inheritance. 

In  the  flower  gardens  of  Japan  there  are  trees  so  dwarfed 
by  human  art  that  orange,  pine,  and  plum  are  in  full  bloom 
and  bearing  fruit  when  they  are  no  more  than  a  foot  high. 
Judging  from  appearances,  these  trees  are  a  race  by  them- 
selves, and  one  would  expect  to  find  nothing  but  dwarfs 
among  their  descendants.  But,  strange  to  say,  no  seed  of  a 
tree  that  was  dwarfed  ever  grows  into  a  dwarfed  descendant. 
Each  successive  generation  has  to  be  crippled  and  deformed 
and  compelled  to  stay  small  by  the  aid  of  man. 


ACQUIRED  CHARACTERS  AND  MUTATIONS      75 


Dogs  and  sheep  and  horses  in  England  have  had  their 
tails  cut  off  for  very  many  generations.  Yet  each  pup,  colt, 
and  lamb  born  of  these  tail-docked  ancestors  has  as  normal 
a  tail  as  if  its  ancestors  had  never  endured  any  amputation. 
The  acquired  character  of  short  tail  has  never  been  passed 
on  and  never  will  be. 

With  such  facts  in  mind  we  naturally  ask  how  short-tailed 
cats  came  into  existence,  and  how  it  is  that  such  cats  are  able 
to  pass  on  the  short-tailed  character.  A  series  of  rather  star- 
tling facts  points  the 
way  to  a  probable 
answer.  They  deal 
with  what  are  called 
mutations.  In  more 
ordinary  language  a 
mutation  is  referred 
to  as  a  sport,  and  a 
sport  might  be  de- 
scribed as  a  living 
novelty  which  cannot 
be  explained  by  its 
ancestors. 

To  illustrate  this  : 
In  Paraguay,  in  the 

midst  of  an  ordinary  herd  of  long-horned  cattle  there  appeared 
one  day  a  young  bull  destitute  of  horns.  This  was  in  1 770. 
Not  an  ancestor  of  that  small  animal  had  been  hornless,  yet 
until  he  died  he  remained  as  hornless  as  when  he  was  born. 
He  was  a  mutation  —  a  sport. 

An  animal  without  horns  is  so  easy  to  manage  that  this 
one  pleased  his  owners,  and  they  wished  to  have  others  like 
him.  But  as  he  was  the  only  one  of  his  kind,  his  pairing  had 


FULL-GROWN  JAPANESE  PINE  TREE 
Dwarfed  by  human  skill 


76 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


to  be  done  with  ordinary  horned  mates.  The  results  were 
unexpected  certainly,  and  the  owners  were  astonished.  So 
many  of  his  descendants  had  no  horns  that  in  the  course 
of  time  there  was  established  a  race  of  hornless  cattle  from 

horned  ancestors. 

Darwin  tells  us  that 
short-legged  Ancon  sheep 
started  in  the  same  way 
—that  in  a  herd  of  long- 
legged  sheep  there  ap- 
peared one  day  this  one 
little  lamb  with  short  legs  ; 
that  it  lived  to  grow  up 
and  become  an  ancestor  ; 
that  among  its  own  de- 
scendants there  were  sev- 
eral short-legged  sheep. 
These  could  not  jump 
fences  and  escape  from 
the  fold  ;  therefore  sheep 
raisers  selected  them  as 
ancestors  of  succeeding 
generations.  As  a  result, 
short-legged  sheep  are 


A  CASE  OF  POLYDACTYLISM 


The  boy's  father  had  twelve  fingers  and  twelve 
toes,  but  the  fingers  were  boneless.    (Photo- 
graph by  Professor  Scott.)  (From  "  Heredity  in 
Relation  to  Eugenics,"  by  C.  B.  Davenport) 


now  the  chosen  type. 
They  are  found  the  world  over,  and  appreciated  everywhere. 
Mr.  Poulton  describes  a  family  of  cats  with  an  extra  toe. 
The  first  one  came  as  a  mutation.  After  this,  for  seven  gen- 
erations of  that  family,  the  feet  of  all  the  kittens  and  cats  were 
faithfully  examined,  and,  by  actual  count,  the  majority  of  them 
were  found  to  be  supplied  with  one  or  two  extra  toes,  making 
six  or  seven  toes  on  each  foot. 


ACQUIRED  CHARACTERS  AND  MUTATIONS      77 


From  one  point  of  view  this  is  a  calamity  even  for  cats. 
Think,  then,  of  the  misfortune  it  is  for  human  beings !  Yet 
such  cases  are  on  record.  Professor  Scott  gives  the  photo- 
graph of  a  boy  who  began  life  with  six  fingers  on  each  hand 
and  six  toes  on  each  foot.  His  father  had  had  the  same  num- 
ber. One  of  his  brothers  had  extra  toes,  another  brother  had 
extra  toes  with  one  extra  finger  on  his  left  hand,  a  sister  had 


RADIOGRAPH  OF  NORMAL  AND  ABNORMAL  HAND 

Notice  that  one  hand  has  three  joints  to  each  finger,  while  the  other  has  but  two. 

(Photograph  by  Drinkwater.)    (From  "  Mendel's  Principles  of  Heredity,"  by 

W.  Bateson) 

extra  toes  only,  while  five  brothers  and  sisters  had  perfectly 
natural  hands  and  feet.  The  condition  of  having  too  many 
fingers  is  called  polydactylism. 

Besides  this  there  is  brachydactylism.  The  word  itself  means 
"  short-fingeredness."  All  we  know  about  the  following  case  is 
that  the  woman  had  two  joints  instead  of  three  joints  to  each 
finger.  She  married  a  man  with  perfectly  normal,  three- 
jointed  fingers.  They  had  eleven  children,  and  facts  are  known 


78  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

about  eight  of  them.    Among  these,  as  the  diagram  shows, 
four  had  short  fingers  and  four  had  normal  fingers. 

Study  the  diagram  and  see  that  in  the  next  generation  there 
were  seven  short-fingered  persons  and  five  that  were  normal. 

f 


? 


Y    f  f  :<? 


vt 


1 

? 


BRACHYDACTYLISM  THROUGH  FIVE  GENERATIONS 

The  family  lived  in  Pennsylvania,  and,  as  Dr.  Castle  states,  "  in  no  case  was  an  ab- 

normal member  of  the  family  known  to  have  married  any  but  an  unrelated  normal 

individual."    Notice,  however,  that  about  half  of  the  descendants  were  afflicted  with 

brachydactylism.    (From  "  Heredity,"  by  W.  E.  Castle) 


,-*     /-\ 
* 


Male  and  female  respectively,  not  possessing  the  trait  under 
consideration. 


A 


Male  and  female  possessing  the  trait. 
Q        Unknown  sex,  normal  or  affected. 
^       Neither  presence  nor  absence  of  trait  can  be  affirmed. 
C3)       Indicates  number  of  children. 

Marriage. 

SYMBOLS  USED  IN  PEDIGREES 
(As  adopted  by  the  Galton  Eugenics  Laboratory) 


ACQUIRED  CHARACTERS  AND  MUTATIONS      79 

The  printed  record  of  the  family  stops  with  the  fifth  gen- 
eration, but  out  in  the  world,  where  the  descendants  of  those 
people  continue  to  live  and  to  multiply,  the  misfortune  of 
their  fingers  still  goes  on,  and  the  number  of  those  who 
have  this  misfortune  increases  with  each  generation 


SMITH  AND  NORWELL'S  CASE  SHOWING  POLYDACTYLISM 
(From  the  "Treasury  of  Human  Inheritance") 

We  see,  then,  that  a  character  which  begins  as  a  mutation 1 
marches  on  through  the  generations  without  any  regard  to 

1  In  1885  Professor  Hugo  de  Vries  of  Holland  came  upon  an  astonish- 
ing primrose  plant.  It  grew  in  a  deserted  potato  field  near  Amsterdam, 
and  it  had  many  unexpected  descendants.  Among  these  "  some  had  few 
branches  instead  of  many ;  some  had  small  flowers  instead  of  large ;  some 
had  quite  different  leaves,  and  so  on."  Every  now  and  then,  also,  a  prim- 
rose hybrid  would  have  descendants  quite  like. itself,  and  the  new  charac- 
ters would  go  on  from  one  generation  to  the  next  without  change.  A  new 
species  had  come  unannounced  into  the  field,  and  it  was  able  to  stay  there 
because  it  had  descendants  like  itself.  De  Vries  found  many  such  cases 
among  his  primrose  plants,  and  it  was  he  who  first  called  them  mutations. 
The  word  is  now  used  by  all  who  study  the  laws  of  evolution. 


80  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

the  wishes  of  those  who  suffer  from  it  or  of  those  who  are 
blessed  by  it.  And  this  points  the  difference  between  a 
mutation  and  an  acquired  character. 

An  acquired  character  cannot  be  inherited ;  a  mutation  is 
inherited.  The  difference  between  the  two  is  striking.  And 
this  explains  why  mutations  have  done  so  much  for  past  gen- 
erations of  living  creatures,  for  if  a  mutation  gave  its  owner 
any  advantage  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  —  if  it  made  the 
creature  in  the  least  degree  more  fit  to  survive,  —  through 
the  law  of  inheritance  it  was  sure  to  play  an  important  part 
in  changing  succeeding  generations  of  descendants. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  not  only  such  variations  as  are 
striking  enough  to  be  called  "  sports,"  but  all  variations, 
wherever  they  appear,  belong  to  one  or  the  other  of  two 
great  classes.  They  are  either  heritable  or  nonheritable. 

No  mutations  have  taught  plainer  lessons  than  do  those 
which  Dr.  Tower  brought  about  among  his  American  potato 
bugs.  These  are  discussed  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
chapters.  Just  now,  however,  we  turn  to  the  law  of  isolation 
as  it  is  illustrated  by  snail  shells  on  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 


CHAPTER  XII 

ISOLATION;  OR  LAND  SHELLS  ON  HAWAII 

Imagine  yourself  on  the  Hawaiian  Islands,1  in  1852.  You 
are  on  horseback,  on  the  island  of  Oahu,  riding  from  valley 


05'  158'00'  55'  50'  45'  157  40'         15 


THE  ISLAND  OF  OAHU 

to  valley,   hunting  for  land  shells.    Your  guide  is  an  en- 
thusiastic young  American  student. 

1  The  Hawaiian  Islands  take  their  name  from  the  largest  island  of  the 
group.  They  are  of  volcanic  origin,  lie  just  within  the  tropics,  and  are 
2500  miles  from  San  Francisco.  Because  of  their  great  beauty  they  are 
called  The  Paradise  of  the  Pacific. 


82  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Look  under  the  trees  as  he  does ;  examine  the  trunks,  the 
branches,  the  leaves.  You  will  find  snail  shells  clinging  in 
each  place.  Notice  their  variety,  their  shape,  their  location. 
Some  are  almost  an  inch  long ;  others  are  so  small  that  it 
takes  five  to  measure  one  inch.  Some  are  fragile  as  the  frailest 
china ;  others  are  stout  enough  to  endure  rough  handling. 

In  color  they  run  all  the  ,way  from  bright  green  and  yel- 
low to  the  softest  shades  of  brown,  with  touches  of  blue  and 
pink  and  white.  Indeed,  in  coloring,  no  gems  could  be  more 
lovely. 

The  island  of  Oahu  is  forty-six  miles  long  and  twenty- 
five  miles  wide.  A  mountain  range  stretches  through  it 
from  northwest  to  southeast.  Wooded  valleys  trail  downward 
from  this  central  mountain  range.  These  valleys  are  very 
narrow,  very  deep,  and  close  together.  Here  it  was  that,  in 
1852,  John  Gulick  gathered  his  snail  shells  and  found  that 
on  Oahu  alone  there  are  between  two  and  three  hundred 
species  of  the  same  family  of  snails. 

Some  lived  on  the  ground ;  some  were  on  the  under  side 
of  the  leaves  of  low  shrubs ;  some  on  the  broad  branches  of 
the  kukui  tree.  Others  lived  in  sunlight  on  the  ridges  be- 
tween the  higher  parts  of  the  valleys,  while  still  others  always 
stayed  in  the  damp,  shaded  forests  of  the  valleys.  And  the 
special  point  to  bear  in  mind  is,  that  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration each  species  stayed  where  it  started.  It  never  left 
its  special  tree,  shrub,  or  rock  unless  it  was  carried  away  by 
windstorm  or  by  birds. 

At  the  very  time  that  John  Gulick  gathered  his  shells,  he 
did  the  one  thing  which  made  his  whole  collection  priceless 
afterwards.  He  not  only  found  old  shells  and  labeled  them, 
found  new  shells  and  gave  them  names,  but  he  also  made 
careful  note  of  the  exact  place  where  each  separate  shell  had 


ISOLATION;   OR  LAND  SHELLS  ON  HAWAII      83 


been  found  —  whether  in  this  valley  or  that ;  whether  on 
this  kind  of  tree,  on  that  variety  of  shrub,  or  under  leaves 
on  the  ground.  He  was  indeed  doing  what  scientists  now 
insist  must  always  be  done  to  make  a  collection  of  any  value 
from  the  scientific  point  of  view.  In  those  days,  however, 
and  in  that  distant  land,  John  Gulick  was  the  only  person 
who  so  much  as  dreamed  of  doing  this  careful  work. 


l  i 


A  FEW  OF  DR.  GULICK'S  SHELLS 

i,  yellow-white  with  a  tinge  of  green  and  dark  stripes;  2,  soft  yellow  with  white 
lining  ;  3,  red-brown  with  white  stripes  and  white  lining ;  4,  shaded  pink  with  white 
bands  and  white  lip ;  5,  dark  brown,  light  brown,  and  white ;  6,  dark  green  shaded 
light,  with  bands  of  dark  brown  and  yellow ;  7,  white  inside  and  outside,  with  touch 
of  yellow  on  the  lip ;  8,  dark  red-brown,  shaded,  with  darker  bands  and  white  lining 

"  I  was  so  much  interested  in  the  location,"  he  says,  "  that 
I  kept  the  name  of  every  valley.  I  went  around  the  island 
on  horseback,  starting  at  Koko  Head  and  visiting  all  the 
valleys  in  turn.  The  shells  were  actually  found  by  the  Ha- 
waiian boys.  I  would  ride  into  a  valley  and  tell  the  boys  that 
I  would  come  in  a  few  days  and  pay  them  for  the  land  shells 
they  found,  but  I  knew  the  valley  where  they  came  from." 


84  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

He  also  saw  that  in  the  same  valley,  on  separate  trees, 
there  were  often  several  varieties  of  the  same  species.  In 
one  case  he  even  found  fifteen  different  species  of  the  same 
genus  in  five  neighboring  valleys  ;  and  these  valleys  were  so 
small  that,  altogether,  the  ground  they  covered  was  less  than 
five  miles  long  by  two  miles  wide. 

All  this  perplexed  him.  And  although  he  bought  and 
read  Darwin's  "Voyage  of  the  Beagle,"  it  gave  him  no 
help.1 

As  he  continued  to  gather  his  shells,  to  study  them,  and 
to  label  them,  he  constantly  looked  for  points  that  were  alike 
and  for  points  that  were  unlike.  And  in  doing  this  he  no- 
ticed that  species  which  lived  closest  together,  on  the  same 
trees  or  in  the  same  valley,  were  very  much  alike. 

He  then  arranged  his  shells  according  to  the  exact  spot 
they  came  from.  And  now  he  saw  that  the  nearer  together 
they  were,  the  more  alike  ;  the  farther  apart,  the  more  unlike. 
These  various  facts  led  him  to  ask  himself  two  questions  : 

1 .  Why  should  so  many  species  have  been  created  so  near 
to  each  other  ?  2 

2.  Why  should  there  be  such  an  extraordinary  number  of 
short  steps  between  the  different  species  ? 

While  he  asked  these  questions  and  puzzled  his  wits  for 
answers,  John  Gulick  little  thought  that  those  treasured  shells 
of  his  were  destined  to  travel  back  and  forth  to  America  and 
round  the  world  with  him ;  that  he  was  to  talk  with  Darwin 
himself  about  them ;  and  that,  in  the  end,  his  own  answer 
to  his  own  questions  was  to  help  solve  .the  great  problem  of 
evolution.  Yet  all  this  came  to  pass. 

1  The  "  Origin  of  Species  "  was  not  written  until  years  later. 

2  In  those  days  men  believed  that  each  species  was  created  independ- 
ently of  all  the  others. 


ISOLATION;   OR  LAND  SHELLS  ON  HAWAII      85 

In  1872,  twenty  years  after  his  shells  were  gathered, 
Dr.  Gulick  wrote  out  the  answers  to  his  questions. 

He  said  that  on  the  Hawaiian  Islands  nature  had  acted 
like  a  careful  breeder.  It  had  kept  certain  groups  from  mating 
with  other  groups,  even  when  they  lived  very  near  together. 
And  he  shows  how  this  was  managed,  step  by  step,  from 
the  beginning. 

1.  After  these  volcanic  islands  had  been  formed,  a  few 
snails  drifted  to  them  from  elsewhere. 

2.  These  first  snails  multiplied  where  they  were  and,  since 
they  were  wretched  travelers,  they  stayed  in  the  same  place 
for  numberless  generations. 

3.  In  the  course  of  time  a  few  were  carried  off  by  birds, 
or  by  wind  or  flood,  or  on  a  broken  branch,  and  left  in 
another  part  of  the  same  valley,  or  perhaps  on  the  top  of  a 
neighboring  tree. 

4.  These  snails  stayed  where  they  were  dropped  ;   they 
multiplied  in  their  new  home  and  had  no  chance  whatever  to 
mate  with  the  parent  stock  or  with  any  other  snails  in  any 
other  place.    For  this  reason  each  new  group  of  descendants 
became  slightly  different  from  its  own  immediate  ancestors, 
and  more  different  yet  from  all  the  other  ancestors  farther 
back.    It  became  different  because  it  started  with  a  different 
average. 

To  make  this  last  statement  plain,  imagine  seven  birds 
with  beaks  as  long  as  shown  in  the  illustration  on  the  next 
page.  Also  imagine  that  two  of  the  birds  flew  off  to  a  new 
locality.  Now  notice  the  difference  in  the  average  length  of 
the  beaks  in  the  two  groups. 

The  same  law  of  average  holds  true  with  snails.  When  a 
few  of  these  are  swept  away  from  the  original  group,  the 
average  size  or  shape  of  this  new,  smaller  group  is  sure  to 


86 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


be  different  from  the  average  size  and  shape  of  the  first 
group,  and  in  general  it  is  the  average  that  shows  itself  in 
the  descendants  of  each  new  colony. 


32  in. 


FIRST  GROUP 
Average  length  of  beaks  in  this  group  is  two  inches  l 


SECOND  GROUP 
Average  length  of  beaks  in  this  group  is  two  and  one  half  inches  * 

This,  then,  explains  the  short  steps  that  sprang  up,  one 
from  the  other,  among  the  snails  of  Hawaii.  There  is  an 
extraordinary  number  of  varieties  and  species,  for  two 
reasons : 

1  The  average  is  found  by  ad'ding  all  the  lengths  together  and  dividing 
the  sum  by  the  number  of  beaks. 


ISOLATION;   OR  LAND  SHELLS  ON  HAWAII      87 

1.  Because  the  snails  were  blown  along  or  moved  along 
in  short  stages. 

2.  Because  each  colony  was  permanently  separated  from 
all    the    other    colonies,    and    because    each    had    its   own 
average. 

Let  colony  after  colony  be  started  in  this  way,  let  time  go 
on  for  unnumbered  snail  generations,  and  we  should  expect 
to  find  precisely  what  we  do  find  —  a  series  of  colonies  sepa- 
rated from  each  other  by  short  steps  of  difference.  Then, 
too,  we  should  expect  to  find  that  the  nearer  they  are  to 
each  other,  the  more  alike  they  will  be  ;  the  farther  apart,  the 
more  unlike.  This  also  is  what  has  happened  to  snail  shells 
on  Hawaii. 

Dr.  Gulick  brings  these  facts  out  and  says  that  any  sepa- 
ration which  prevents  one  colony  from  mating  with  another 
colony  is  rightly  called  isolation.  He  speaks  of  geographic 
isolation,  when  snails  in  one  valley  or  on  one  tree  have  no 
chance  to  mate  with  snails  in  another  valley  or  on  another 
tree,  or  when  snails  that  live  under  stones  never  meet  those 
that  live  on  tree  tops.  He  speaks  of  food  isolation,  when  dif- 
ferent groups  live  on  different  kinds  of  food  ;  and  he  assures 
us  that  anything  which  keeps  colonies  permanently  apart,  so 
that  mating  is  impossible,  means  isolation  for  them.  He 
also  says  that  genuine  isolation  of  this  sort  results  at  last  in 
a  new  species. 

This  was  Dr.  Gulick's  discovery.  By  means  of  it  he  added 
the  law  of  isolation  to  Darwin's  five-linked  chain,  and  by 
doing  this  he  made  the  chain  itself  so  much  the  stronger. 

Human  beings  as  well  as  snails,  plants  as  well  as  animals, 
are  controlled  by  the  same  law  of  isolation.  The  next  chap- 
ter will  show  that  colonies  which  mix  freely  with  each  other 
have  the  smallest  number  of  species. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


CHANGED   ENVIRONMENT  FOR  LEPTINOTARSA 

Kansas  will  never  forget  the  year  1862.  Potato  bugs  had 
arrived.  They  were  crossing  the  state,  destroying  the  crops 
and  driving  the  farmers  to  despair.  One  afflicted  man  wrote 

to  the  editor  of  the  Val- 
ley Farmer  about  it : 

"  I  cultivate  about  ten 
acres  of  land,"  he  says, 
"  for  the  purpose  of  rais- 
ing potatoes  for  my 
hotel ;  it  is  situated  on 
the  prairie  land.  Last 
August,  soon  after  a 
heavy  shower  of  rain, 
these  bugs  suddenly 
made  their  appearance 
in  large  numbers  on  the 
potato  vines.  They  were 
so  numerous  that  in 


LEPTINOTARSA  DECEMLINEATA,  THE 
TRAVELER 


Color,  yellow  with  black  stripes  ;  length,  about 
one  third  of  an  inch 


many  instances  they 
would  almost  cover  the 
whole  vine.  It  is  no  ex- 
aggeration when  I  tell 

you  that  we  have  often,  in  a  very  short  time,  gathered  as  many 
as  two  bushels  of  them.  When  cold  weather  set  in,  they 
disappeared.  Early  this  spring  I  was  setting  out  some  apple 


ENVIRONMENT  FOR  LEPTINOTARSA  89 

trees,  and  away  down  in  the  hard,  yellow  clay  I  found  these 
bugs,  apparently  dead,  but  put  them  in  the  sun  and  they  im- 
mediately came  to  life.  They  have  again  made  their  appear- 
ance in  my  garden  in  large  numbers.  Last  year  they  ate  up 
everything  green  on  the  potato  vines,  then  commenced  on 
the  tomatoes,  and  so  on,  eating  up  everything  green." 

It  seems  that  the  ancestors  of  these  beetles  had  moved  up 
by  short  stages  from  Mexico  to  Nebraska ;  that  on  the  way 
they  ate  certain  plants  that  pleased  them,  but  that  they  knew 
nothing  about  potatoes  until  they  reached  Omaha  City  in 
1 859.  And  here  it  was  that  they  had  their  first  taste  of  what 
seemed  to  them  a  delicious  new  food. 

They  crawled  over  the  potato  leaves,  nibbled  at  them,  and 
liked  them  so  well  that,  ever  after,  wherever  the  farmer  went, 
planting  his  potatoes,  there  too  went  the  potato-bug  beetle 
to  £njoy  them.  Everywhere  the  beetle  destroyed  the  crops, 
and  everywhere  the  farmer  did  what  he  could  to  destroy 
the  beetle. 

It  was  a  hand-to-hand  fight,  and  the  record  of  it  is  given 
by  Dr.  Tower  in  what  he  calls  "  The  Chronological  His- 
tory of  the  Dispersal  of  Leptinotarsa  decemlineata,  1859 
to  1904."  1 

This  record  shows  how  the  beetles  worked  their  way  from 
west  to  east,  how  long  they  took  for  the  journey,  and  how 
they  earned  for  themselves  the  nickname  of  potato  bug. 
Their  real  name  —  their  scientific  name  —  is  Leptinotarsa 
decemlineata,  a  name  too  long  for  everyday  use  but  quite 
important  to  the  scientist. 

Here  are  a  few  extracts  quoted  from  the  record  of  the 
travels  of  Leptinotarsa  decemlineata. 

1  This  is  one  division  of  Dr.  Tower's  book  entitled  "  Evolution  in 
Chryspmelid  Beetles." 


90  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


"  The  beetle  has  crossed  the  Mississippi  River  into 
Illinois  at  several  points.  ...  It  is  committing  the  most  destruc- 
tive ravages  on  the  potato  crop  in  the  vicinity  of  Warsaw, 
Illinois,  but  it  has  not  yet  reached  a  point  lying  thirty  miles 
east  of  us  in  such  numbers  as  to  be  noticed  by  the  farmers." 

1865.  If  reports  are  correct,  "  the  insect  has  traveled 
three  hundred  and  sixty  miles  in  six  years.  At  this  rate  it 
will  reach  the  Atlantic  in  fourteen  years  (i.e.  1879)." 

1868.  A  few  advance  agents  of  the  moving  army  appeared 
in  Ohio.  The  army  itself  was  still  one  hundred  miles  to  the 
rear  but  coming  steadily  on.  Dr.  Tower  says  that  this  advance 
guard,  no  doubt,  traveled  by  accident  on  the  coal  barges  which 
passed  up  and  down  the  Ohio  River.  They  were  blown  onto 
these  barges  while  on  the  wing. 

l8jl.  "The  chief  event  of  the  history  of  this  year's 
spread  is  the  invasion  of  Canada."  A  man  describing  the 
way  they  travel  writes  :  "In  the  spring  the  Detroit  River 
was  swarming  with  the  beetles,  and  they  were  crossing  Lake 
Erie  on  ships,  chips,  staves,  and  any  floating  object." 

1874.  "  The  center  of  the  interest  was  along  the  Atlantic 
coast,  where  in  many  places  the  beetle  was  abundant  and 
did  much  damage." 

I&75'  "  At  the  beginning  of  this  year  the  beetle  was  dis- 
tributed along  the  seacoast  from  New  York  to  Chesapeake 
Bay,  and  by  the  end  it  had  overrun  most  of  the  remaining 
territory  of  the  coast  states.  It  reached  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts, in  the  autumn.  It  penetrated  farther  into  Vermont 
and  was  reported  from  New  Hampshire  and  Maine." 

1876.  "It  is  related  that  they  were  washed  ashore  in 
such  numbers  as  to  poison  the  air  with  the  '  noxious  vapors  ' 
arising  from  their  decaying  bodies."  The  captain  of  a  New 
London  vessel  relates  that  while  at  sea  (Long  Island  Sound) 


ENVIRONMENT  FOR  LEPTINOTARSA  91 

they  "  boarded  him  in  such  numbers  that  the  hatches  had  to 
be  closed.  .  .  .  They  were  abundant  everywhere  and  by  the 
end  of  the  year  had  overrun  the  entire  northern  and  eastern 
part  of  the  United  States,  excepting  Maine." 

Sometimes  the  masses  moved  faster,  sometimes  slower, 
but  always  they  went  forward.  Like  the  Israelites  of  old, 
they  lived  and  journeyed  and  died  as  they  traveled. 


MAP  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  LOWER  CANADA 

This  shows  the  chief  trends  of  migration  of  Leptinotarsa  decemlineata  between 
1859  and  1904.   (After  W.  L.  Tower) 

It  took  sixteen  years  for  them  to  go  from  Omaha  to  Boston. 
Meanwhile  every  European  nation  watched  the  progress  of 
the  army  and  grew  anxious.  If  beetles  could  cross  the 
Mississippi  River,  if  they  could  span  Lake  Erie  and 
reach  Canada,  what  was  to  hinder  them  from  taking  ship 
for  Europe  ?  What  was  to  save  that  side  of  the  ocean 
from  the  beetle  raids  of  this  side,  and  what  should  be  done 
as  preparation  for  the  possibility  of  such  an  invasion  ? 


92  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Different  governments  asked  themselves  these  questions 
as  they  watched  the  steady  advance  of  the  tireless  travelers. 
Fortunately  Europe  knew  how  to  save  herself.  Her  weapon 
was  scientific  information  about  the  beetle  itself,  about  its 
power  to  eat  all  sorts  of  green  and  growing  things,  and  about 
the  way  it  travels.  Full  directions  were  given  as  to  what 
must  be  done  at  once  if  any  beetle  showed  itself  in  Europe. 

In  Germany  schoolmasters  taught  the  facts  to  the  chil- 
dren in  the  schools  and  gave  public  lectures  to  older  people. 
France  printed  an  elaborate  bulletin  for  everybody  to  read. 

Then,  in  1876,  came  the  expected  test.  Beetles  had  ar- 
rived. They  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  by  ship  from  America. 
They  were  found  in  England,  Sweden,  and  Norway.  But, 
thanks  to  the  bulletins,  the  school-teachers,  and  the  children, 
people  recognized  them  at  once,  captured  them,  and  killed 
them.  Science  saved  the  country  then  and  will  keep  on  saving 
it  so  long  as  the  people  are  vigilant.  But  what  if  vigilance 
should  let  go  ? 

Dr.  Tower  says  that  "when  this  happens,  the  beetle  will 
spread  as  it  did  in  this  country,  until  it  is  found  in  all  the 
countries  of  Europe  in  which  it  is  possible  to  live." 

Such  is  the  meager  outline  of  the  history  of  the  migration 
of  the  potato  bug  from  Omaha  in  the  west  to  Europe  in  the 
east ;  and  it  points  the  lesson  of  environment.  By  what  they 
did  these  beetles  proved  that  they  could  live  in  any  surround- 
ings where  they  could  find  food  enough. 

It  mattered  not  whether  the  place  was  hot  or  cold,  damp 
or  dry,  covered  by  shadows  or  exposed  to  sunshine ;  whether 
it  were  on  a  mountain  top,  on  a  wide  plain,  or  in  a  valley. 
Nothing  mattered  to  the  beetles  except  their  food.  Wherever 
there  was  food  enough,  there  they  multiplied  fastest;  and 
where  they  multiplied  fastest,  there  they  provided  the  largest 


ENVIRONMENT  FOR  LEPTINOTARSA  93 

numbers  to  be  moved  onward  or  to  be  blown  forward  as 
accident  might  dictate. 

Still  they  were  neither  eating  nor  traveling  all  the  time. 
Dr.  Tower  says  that  most  beetles  spend  from  three  to  five 
months  a  year  underground  in  a  state  of  torpor,  taking  no 
part  in  life's  activities.  But  when  spring  comes  and  the 
days  are  warm,  then  new  life  drives  them  aboveground 
again.  They  now  creep  and  fly  about  and  fall  to  eating 
spring  leaves  that  are  beginning  to  grow.  It  is  at  this  time 
that  the  farmer  is  in  despair.  He  cries,  "The  bugs  are  upon 
us! "  He  arms  himself  to  defeat  them.  He  picks  them  from 
the  vines  by  the  peckful  and  the  bushel.  He  puts  Paris 
green  on  the  vines  to  kill  the  marauders.  He  digs  long 
trenches  across  their  pathway,  waits  until  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  them  have  fallen  into  these  trenches,  pours  kero- 
sene Oil  in  after  them,  touches  a  match  to  it,  and  in  a  flash  of 
light  the  beetles  have  been  conquered.  No  beetle  can  survive 
an  environment  of  Paris  green  or  of  fire.  Man  must  therefore 
meet  him  with  these  weapons  if  he  wishes  to  save  his  crops. 

Now  compare  the  snails  of  Hawaii  with  the  potato  bugs  of 
America,  and  keep  in  sight  the  following  facts : 

1.  On  Oahu,  an  island  forty-six  miles  long  and  twenty- 
five  miles  wide,  there  are  between  two  and  three  hundred 
species  of  one  great  family  of  snails.    In  North  America,  in 
all  the  area  of  the  Northern  states  and  of  Canada,  there  is 
but  one  species  of  potato  bug. 

2.  On  Oahu  each  species  of  snail  must  have  its  own  kind 
of  food,  else  it  will  die.    In  America  potato  bugs  live  on 
fifteen  or  twenty  different  kinds  of  plants. 

3.  Hawaiian  snails  move  by. creeping,  and  they  do  this 
slowly.    American  potato  bugs  not  only  creep  but  also  walk 
and  fly  and  are  blown  forward  by  the  wind. 


94  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

4.  The  region  covered  by  a  single  species  of  Hawaiian 
snail  is  often  not  over  two  or  three  square  miles.  The  region 
covered  by  a  single  species  of  potato  bug  is  as  wide  and  as 
long  as  the  continent  of  North  America. 

These  facts,  put  together  in  this  way,  show  that  the  power 
to  migrate  and  to  live  in  different  kinds  of  environment  has 
much  to  do  with  the  number  of  species  in  this  region  or  that. 
If  potato  bugs  had  been  kept  in  narrow  sections  of  the  coun- 
try, if  they  had  been  able  to  live  on  but  one  kind  of  food, 


LEPTINOTARSA 

The  dark  one  is  bright  red  ;  the  light  one  is  bright  yellow.    Both  are  decorated 

with  black  spots,  both  help  destroy  the  crops,  and  both  will  be  changed  into  flying 

beetles.    (From  W.  L.  Tower) 

if  colonies  had  gone  out  from  them  rarely  and  at  long  inter- 
vals, if  there  had  been  no  chance  for  different  colonies  to  mix 
with  each  other,  the  potato  bug  would  have  ended  by  being 
divided  into  many  species,  as  are  the  snails  of  Hawaii. 

Instead,  this  potato  bug  lives  in  any  environment.  Neither 
soil  nor  climate  daunts  him.  Storms  and  blizzards  simply 
drive  him  on  his  way  and  improve  his  chances.  In  spite  of 
all  this,  however,  there  are  certain  kinds  of  beetle  environ- 
ment which  make  all  the  difference  in  the  world  with  his 
descendants  of  succeeding  generations.  The  next  chapter 
takes  up  this  part  of  the  subject. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

NEW  SPECIES  THROUGH  CHANGED  ENVIRONMENT 

One  of  the  interesting  points  about  Leptinotarsa  decem- 
lineata  is  that  they  multiply  at  the  rate  of  two  generations 
a  year.  This  means  that  a  beetle  has  both  children  and 
grandchildren  within  twelve  months.  Dr.  Tower  describes 
the  egg-laying  process.  It  begins  in  the  spring,  soon  after 
the  beetles  crawl  out  of  their  underground  burrows. 

A  convenient  leaf  is  chosen,  and  the  beetle,  well  laden 
with  her  eggs,  begins  the  serious  work  of  laying  from  thirty 
to  seventy-five  of  them  in  close  succession.  First  "  she  al- 
lows a  drop  of  yellow,  oily  fluid  to  escape  "  from  her  body. 
Upon  this  the  egg  is  carefully  dropped.  "  The  fluid  now 
hardens  rapidly  and  cements  the  egg  in  place.  One  egg  hav- 
ing been  deposited,  the  female  moves  along  a  slight  distance, 
and  there  places  another  by  the  side  of  the  first,  and  so  on 
until  there  is  a  row  of  from  five  to  ten  eggs  in  a  nearly  straight 
line  across  the  leaf.  A  second,  third,  fourth,  and  often  as 
many  as  ten  rows  are  thus  laid,  each  of  which  is  more  or  less 
closely  placed  to  the  previously  laid  row,  and  forms  therewith 
a  compact  bunch." 

Sometimes,  instead  of  putting  all  her  eggs  on  the  same 
leaf,  the  beetle  moves  from  place  to  place,  leaving  a  few  here 
and  a  few  there,  until  she  has  deposited  the  thirty  or  seventy- 
five  that  are  ready  to  be  laid  in  close  succession.  Her  entire 
number  is  about  three  hundred  and  seventy-five,  but,  as  we 
have  seen,  they  have  to  be  laid  in  separate  sets  during  the 

95 


96  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

same  season,  because  they  are  not  all  ready  to  leave  the  body 
at  the  same  time.  There  are  from  four  to  ten  days  between 
the  layings  of  two  successive  sets  of  eggs. 

After  the  laying  comes  the  hatching ;  and  after  the  hatch- 
ing, those  young  larvae  of  the  next  generation  eat  green  things 
in  abundance  and  develop  so  fast  that,  within  thirty-five  days 
from  the  time  they  were  eggs,  they  have  not  only  been 
changed  into  crawling  larvae  but  also  have  become  full-grown 
beetles  with  wings,  ready  to  lay  eggs  on  their  own  account. 

Dr.  Tower  learned  these  facts  while  he  studied  beetles 
and  carried  on  experiments  with  them  in  connection  with  The 
University  of  Chicago.  He  knew  that  every  kind  of  beetle 
starts  from  a  germ  cell,1  and  he  proposed  to  do  what  he  could 
to  find  out  whether  or  not  the  power  of  germ  cells  can  be 
influenced  in  this  direction  or  that  by  any  change  in  the 
surroundings  of  the  parents  before  the  next  generation  makes 
its  appearance. 

See  how  it  was  in  the  matter  of  color,  for  example. 
Dr.  Tower  first  secured  forty  thousand  beetles.  These  were 
sent  to  him  from  the  potato  fields  of  Massachusetts  and  Long 
Island,  also  from  Ohio  and  Illinois,  and  when  they  reached 
Chicago  he  put  them  into  glass  cages  and  glass  breeding 
tanks  prepared  for  the  purpose. 

Each  breeding  place  had  its  own  special  degree  of  heat  or 
of  cold,  and  each  was  kept  at  the  same  temperature  through 
summer  and  through  winter  from  1 893  to  1904.  During  these 
years  many  generations  of  beetles  lived  and  died,  and  all  the 
time  Dr.  Tower  saw  what  was  happening  to  the  spots  and 
the  stripes  that  give  the  creatures  their  color. 

When  the  eleven  years  were  over,  when  both  heat  tests 
and  cold  tests  were  ended,  he  found  that  up  to  a  certain 

1  All  life  starts  from  germ  cells.    The  next  chapter  tells  of  this. 


NEW  SPECIES  97 

point  of  heat  or  of  cold  the  color  of  each  next  generation  of 
beetles  grew  darker  and  richer,  but  that  when  either  the  heat 
or  the  cold  was  greater,  the  color  grew  lighter  from  one 
generation  to  the  next,  until  it  had  quite  faded  out. 

These  experiments  proved  that  the  temperature  of  the  sur- 
roundings in  which  beetles  live  and  multiply  influences  the 
power  of  their  germ  cells  to  pass  on  shades  of  color  to  the 
next  generation. 

Dr.  Tower  was  in  the  midst  of  these  experiments  when  a 
serious  calamity  brought  them  abruptly  to  an  end.  Beetles' 
eggs  with  long  pedigrees  behind  them  were  in  the  green- 
house waiting  to  be  hatched.  Young  beetles  with  pedigrees 
quite  as  long  were  feeding  and  growing.  Full-grown  beetles 
were  in  fine  condition.  It  was  one  of  the  hottest  days  in  the 
summer  of  1904.  Workmen  were  repairing  .the  heating  ap- 
paratus of  the  university,  and,  not  knowing  what  might  hap- 
pen, they  turned  the  heat  on  at  full  pressure.  Soon  every 
beetle  was  killed ;  every  egg  was  put  beyond  the  power  of 
hatching.  The  record  of  these  studies  had  to  be  closed. 
Dr.  Tower  had  to  make  a  new  start  with  his  investigations, 
and  then  it  was  that  he  printed  his  book  and  reported  results 
up  to  the  date  of  the  overheating. 

Still,  even  before  the  heat  killed  the  beetles,  another  set 
of  experiments  had  been  going  on  which  were  of  vast  im- 
portance to  biologists.  Dr.  Tower  wished  to  know  whether 
or  not  it  makes  any  difference  to  the  next  generation  if  beetle 
parents  are  put  into  an  unusual  environment  just  before  they 
lay  their  eggs,  and  at  no  other  time. 

He  suspected  that  germ  cells  might  be  influenced  by  their 
environment  while  the  body  was  getting  them  ready  to  be 
laid.  If  this  were  so,  he  knew  that  one  set  of  eggs  would  be 
affected  at  a  time. 


98  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

He  could  tell  by  the  looks  of  any  beetle  whether  she  was 
about  to  lay  her  eggs  or  whether  she  had  already  done  so. 
Accordingly,  in  1902,  just  before  egg-laying  time  came,  he 
chose  six  pairs  of  beetles,  put  them  into  a  very  warm,  damp 
breeding  place,  and  kept  them  there  until  they  had  laid  492 
g  ;s.  He  called  this  set  Lot  A.  He  next  put  both  the  beetles 
and  the  eggs  in  normal  conditions  again.  Here  the  beetles 
laid  the  rest  of  their  eggs.  There  were  509  of  them.  They 
were  labeled  Lot  B.  The  larvae  of  both  sets  grew  up  together. 
As  it  happened,  many  of  the  eggs  in  both  Lot  A  and  Lot  B 
did  not  hatch.  Many  larvae  did  not  live.  But  we  may  im- 
agine how  carefully  Dr.  Tower  watched  those  that  did  live 
to  become  ancestors.1  And  he  had  his  reward. 

He  tells  us  that  the  parents  of  these  particular  beetles 
were  of  the  species  Leptinotarsa  mnltitaenita,  and  that  they 
had  been  brought  from  Mexico.  Now  it  seems  that  when 
beetles  of  this  species  are  frightened,  they  "feign  death,"  as 
it  is  called,  by  falling  to  the  ground  with  their  legs  folded 
close  up  against  the  body,  and  they  lie  there  motionless  until 
they  consider  it  safe  to  unfold  and  be  alive  again. 

But  there  is  still  another  species  of  these  same  beetles  in 
Mexico,  called  Leptinotarsa  melanothorax.  When  these  are 
frightened,  they  feign  death  and  fall  to  the  ground  with  their 
legs  stiffened  and  stretched  out  in  a  straight  line  from  the 
body.  What,  then,  .was  Dr.  Tower's  surprise  to  find  that  all 
but  ten  of  Lot  A  beetles,  creatures  that  were  direct  descend- 
ants of  multitaenita,  were  feigning  death  in  quite  correct 
melanothorax  fashion.  The  damp-heat  environment  had  so 
affected  them  through  their  parents  that  now,  when  the  mo- 
ment of  fright  came,  they  did  not  fold  their  legs  up  against 
their  bodies  as  their  ancestors  had  done,  but  stiffened  them 

1  Lot  A  produced  59  and  Lot  B  82  full-grown  beetles. 


NEW  SPECIES  99 

out  and  fell  to  the  ground  like  bristling  small  porcupines. 
Moreover,  their  children  and  their  children's  children  showed 
fright  in  the  same  way.  Dr.  Tower  saw  that  his  damp-heat  en- 
vironment had  changed  the  leg  habits  of  multitaenita  beetles. 
It  had  made  melanothorax  beetles  out  of  them,  and  they  con- 
tinued to  be  melanothorax  beetles  for  succeeding  generations. 
A  wonder  of  this  sort  throws  a  flood  of  light  on  the  laws  of 
inheritance  and  on  one  of  the  methods  of  evolution. 


MUTATIONS  COMPARED 

Lcptinotarsa  multitaenita  (2)  and  two  of  its  offspring  that  were  mutations — rttbi- 

cimda  (i)  and  melanothorax  (3).    In  their  coloring  2  shows  black  stripes  and  marks 

on  a  yellow  background ;  i  has  similar  stripes  and  head  markings  on  a  red  background ; 

3  is  red  with  black  stripes  and  a  black  neck.    (After  W.  L.  Tower) 

The  most  notable  part  of  Dr.  Tower's  work  was  the  proof 
that,  by  giving  beetles  an  unusual  environment  during  the 
time  that  the  eggs  were  maturing,  before  they  are  laid,  germ 
cells  may  be  influenced  and  a  new  species  secured. 

Now  it  matters  little  whether  beetles  feign  death  in  one  way 
or  in  another.  But  suppose  there  were  some  sort  of  environ- 
ment which  could  change  cells  in  such  away  that  the  individuals 
of  the  next  generation  would  be  hopelessly  damaged  after  birth. 
This  subject  will  be  studied  later.  Just  now  we  turn  our  atten- 
tion to  the  very  beginnings  of  life  for  the  next  generation. 


CHAPTER  XV 


BEGINNINGS   OF  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Professor  Loeb  in  the  United  States  and  Professor  Batail- 
lon  in  France  have  accomplished  a  marvel  with  frogs'  eggs. 

One  thousand  of  these  eggs  were 
taken  from  the  body  of  the  mother 
before  they  were  fertilized.  They 
were  put  into  a  small  dish  and  were 
pricked  one  after  the  other  with  the 
finest  possible  platinum  needle. 
Water  of  the  right  warmth  was 
poured  over  them  to  keep  them 
moist,  and  the  dish  with  its  water 
and  eggs  was  set  aside  while  Pro- 
fessor Bataillon  waited  for  results.1 

Within  four  hours  these  hoped- 
for  results  began  to  appear.  The 
eggs  were  evidently  developing, 
and  before  long  most  of  them  were 
changed  somewhat.  Still  only  one 
fifth  kept  on  developing  as  normal 
eggs  of  the  normal  frog  are  ac- 
customed to  do. 

Moreover,  as  days  passed,  so 
many  of  them  stopped  growing  that 
only  1 20  turned  themselves  into 
tadpoles.  This  is  the  first  great 


TADPOLE  No.  i 


This  tadpole  developed  from  an 
unfertilized  frog's  egg  that  had 
been  pricked  with  a  platinum 
needle  by  Professor  Loeb.  It 
lived  five  months  and  passed 
almost  beyond  the  tadpole  stage. 
When  it  died  it  had  all  four  legs 
and  only  the  remnant  of  a  tail. 
(Courtesy  of  Professor  Loeb) 


1  Reported  in  Nature  (London),  June  22,  1911. 
100 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEXT  -GENERATION''    101 


transformation  of  frog  life.    Of  this   120,  three J-lived^  long 
enough  to  become  real  frogs,  while  one  hundred  and  seven- 
teen died  by  accident  or  because 
they  could  not  get  the  right  sort 
of  food  after  their  legs  appeared. 

The  oldest  of  the  three  lived 
three  months.  He  had  all  four  legs, 
and  everything  was  complete  about 
him  except  that  his  tadpole  tail  did 
not  fully  disappear.  Then  he  too 
died.  But  the  surprise  was  that 
any  lived  at  all. 

A  record  of  this  kind  startles 
every  biologist,  because  nothing  of 
the  sort  is  found  anywhere  in  the 
ordinary  history  of  vertebrates. 
What  we  learn  from  biological 
history  is  that  every  descendant  of 
every  vertebrate  begins  its  indi- 
vidual existence  by  the  union  of 
two  germ  cells,  each  of  which  is 
derived  from  a  separate  individual 
of  different  sex.  We  learn  that 
unless  this  union  takes  place  there 
can  by  no  possibility  be  a  second 
generation. 

Aside  from  vertebrates,  however, 
there  are  other  living  creatures  to 
whom  this  law  of  two  starting  cells 
does  not  apply.  The  amoeba,  for  example,  shows  quite  another 
method.  Here  we  have  a  one-celled  creature  that  multi- 
plies by  pulling  itself  in  two.  To-day  each  amoeba  that  lives 


TADPOLE  No.  2 

This  also  grew  from  an  unferti- 
lized egg  that  had  been  pricked 
with  a  platinum  needle.  It  died 
after  six  months  with  rudimen- 
tary legs  only.  (Courtesy  of 
Professor  Loeb) 


METAMORPHOSIS  OF  A  FROG 


i,  tadpole  just  hatched ;  2,  3,  successively  older  tadpoles  seen  from  one  side ;  4,  a 
slightly  older  tadpole  seen  from  the  dorsal  side;  5,  a  still  older  specimen  from  be- 
low ;  6,  tadpole  with  the  gills  covered,  leaving  only  a  small  opening  on  the  left  side ; 
7,  indications  of  hind  legs;  8  and  10,  successively  older  stages;  9,  specimen  with  the 
ventral  body  wall  removed,  showing  the  coiled  intestine  and  gills ;  u,  both  pairs  of 
legs  free;  12,  13,  14,  successive  stages  in  the  resorption  of  the  tail;  15,  adult  frog. 
(Afoer  Leuckart  and  Nitsche.)  (From  "  Synoptic  Text  Book  of  Zoology,"  by  Weyss) 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEXT  GENERATION      103 


and  eats  and  moves  about  and  divides  is  merely  half  of 
another  amoeba  precisely  like  itself.1 

But  with  fish  and  fowl  and  with  all  other  vertebrates,  in- 
cluding man,  a  new  order  steps  in.  Instead  of  having  but 
one  cell  of  protoplasm  apiece,  like  the  amceba,  all  complex 
animals  are  great  bundles  of  millions  of  cells,  and  a  separate 
set  takes  charge 
of  each  separate 
function  of  the 
body. 

Through  our 
brain  cells  we 
do  our  thinking 
and  our  decid- 
ing ;  nerve  cells 
do  the  tele- 
graphing for 
us ;  muscle  cells 
do  the  pulling; 
cells  of  liver, 
spleen,  bone, 
and  kidney  de- 
vote themselves 
to  work  each  in  THE  AMCEBA  AS  IT  MULTIPLIES 

its  own  special 

field ;  while  germ  cells  (also  called  gametes)  are  set  apart  for 
absolutely  no  other  purpose  than  to  carry  on  the  life  of  the 
race.  In  fact  they  are  the  only  bits  of  protoplasm  in  the 
universe  that  are  able  to  pass  life  along  from  one  generation 
to  the  next.  They  join  the  generations  together. 


1  For    description    of    amoeba    see    "  Control    of    Body    and    Mind,' 
of  the  Gulick  Hygiene  Series,  chap.  vi. 


104  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

In  a  certain  town  in  Ohio,  on  a  certain  day,  there  were 
born  a  colt,  a  lamb,  a  puppy,  and  a  human  baby.  Each  one  of 
these  young  animals  looked  and  acted  as  all  its  ancestors  had 
looked  and  acted  when  they  were  of  the  same  age.  We  are 
so  accustomed  to  marvels  of  this  sort  that  we  accept  them  as 
a  matter  of  course. 

Perhaps  we  forget  that  germ  cells  of  various  kinds  look  so 
much  alike  that  no  one  but  the  keenest  scientist  with  his 
strongest  magnifying  glass  could  have  told  beforehand  which 
pairs  of  those  cells  were  to  develop  into  colt,  lamb,  puppy, 
and  baby.  Nevertheless,  lodged  within  the  cells  themselves, 
before  they  began  to  develop,  were  all  the  different  characters 
that  were  to  belong  to  each  one  of  the  four  small  creatures. 
And  these  different  characters  represented  different  ancestors 
all  the  way  back  to  the  beginning  of  things.  Size  and  shape, 
color  and  character,  texture  of  wool  and  of  hair,  brain  power 
and  muscle  power,  keenness  of  vision  and  of  scent,  'structure 
of  body  and  type  of  disposition  —  each  quality  of  each  animal 
was  stored  up  for  use  and  packed  into  the  small  compass  of 
its  own  particular  pair  of  germ  cells. 

All  this,  then,  is  what  germ  cells  do  as  their  share  of  the 
work  of  life.  They  help  on  the  cause  of  the  next  generation. 

Other  cells  multiply  within  the  body  and  serve  the  body 
itself  without  reference  to  the  next  generation.  Not  so  with 
germ  cells ;  it  is  true  that  they  live  within  the  body,  but  it 
is  equally  true  that  they  exist  there  without  any  reference 
whatever  to  the  welfare  of  the  body  to  which  they  belong. 
In  no  wise  do  they  exert  themselves  for  the  maintenance 
of  its  activities.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  set  apart ;  they 
remain  in  organs  of  their  own.  The  sole  purpose  of  their 
existence  is  to  help  construct  a  new  member  of  the  next 
generation. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEXT  GENERATION      105 

In  scientific  books  germ  cells,  in  quantity,  are  often  re- 
ferred to  as  germ  plasm,  and  those  who  study  the  subject 
often  speak  of  germ  plasm  as  a  stream  of  life.  They  say  that 
"the  individual  is  only  the  result  of  the  unfolding  of  the 
potential  powers  of  a  bit  of  germ  plasm,"  and  that,  "  once 
developed,  the  person  carries  the  rest  of  the  precious  mate- 
rial around  with  him  to  hand  down  to  his  own  offspring."  1 
According  to  this  theory  the  present  generation  is  the  direct 
outcome  of  all  the  generations  that  have  gone  before.  The 
claim,  therefore,  is  that  germ  plasm  is  the  only  part  of  our 
bodies  which  will  live  as  long  as  the  race  itself  continues  to 
multiply  on  the  earth.2 

In  studying  cells  and  their  development  it  is  important  to 
remember  that  neither  amoeba  nor  germ  cell  can  live  after 
it  becomes  dry,  and  that  every  dry  amoeba  ever  found  was 
a  dead  amoeba.  So  it  is  with  germ  cells ;  the  mere  fact  of 
dryness  kills  them.  No  germ  cell  can  live  and  pass  on  the 
life  of  the  race  if  it  stays  in  dry  surroundings.  This  is  true 
of  every  kind  of  animal  life,  and  it  is  interesting  to  see  how 
nature  manages  to  keep  these  cells  moist  and  useful  even 
when  they  belong  to  different  kinds  of  creatures. 

It  is  easy  to  keep  fish  cells  from  drying  up,  because  the 
fish  themselves  live  in  water  and  lay  their  eggs  there.  But 
even  fish  have  trouble  in  getting  the  next  generation  safely 

1  As  Weismann  puts  it,  "  In  each  development  a  portion  of  the  specific 
germinal  plasm  which  the  parental  ovum  contains  is  not  used  up  in  the 
formation  of  the  offspring,  but  is  reserved  unchanged  for  the  formation  of 
the  germinal  cells  of  the  following  generations." 

2  In  this  discussion  about  evolution  and  about  the  laws  of  inheritance 
there  is  often  great  disagreement  of  opinion   among  investigators.    All 
believe  in  evolution  itself,  but  some  put  emphasis  on  one  side  of  the  sub- 
ject, some  on  another  side.    Without  exception,  however,  they  are  study- 
ing facts,  and  the  wisest  among  them  are  more  anxious  to  arrive  at  the 
truth  than  to  establish  their  own  individual  point  of  view. 


io6 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


launched  into  life.  This  trouble  comes  from  the  fact  that 
every  generation  of  germ  cells  for  every  kind  of  animal  has 
to  meet  three  conditions  : 

1.  Two    separate    cells  —  one    each    from    two    separate 
animals  —  must  unite  to  form  each   member  of   the  next 
generation. 

2.  To  live,  they  must  be  prevented  from  getting  dry. 

3.  They  must  be  so 
./         o   A\  placed  that  they  will  be 

sure  to  find  each  other. 
Fish  meet  these  con- 
ditions as  follows : 

The  female  fish,  as  it 
swims  about,  first  de- 
posits a  mass  of  germ 
cells,  each  one  of  which 
is  an  egg  —  an  ovum. 
Later  the  male  fish,  also 
swimming  that  way,  de- 
posits on  the  eggs  a  clear-looking  substance  which  seems  to 
resemble  nothing  so  much  as  the  white  of  an  egg.  This  sub- 
stance really  contains  millions  of  germ  cells.  Each  one  is 
called  a  sperm,  and  each  is  capable  of  fertilizing  one  of 
the  eggs.1 

It  is  a  fairly  easy  matter  to  discover  separate  eggs  in  the 
vast  numbers  which  a  fish  lays  at  one  time,  for  they  float 
about,  looking  like  bits  of  jelly  bunched  together.  It  is 
otherwise  with  the  sperm  cells.  All  that  the  eye  sees  is  a 
thickish  liquid,  but  under  the  microscope,  in  the  liquid  it- 
self, we  see  numberless  darting  objects  that  are  in  constant 

1  A  mature  germ  cell  is  often  called  a  gamete.  When  two  germ  cells, 
or  gametes,  unite  they  form  a  fertilized  cell  called  a  zygote. 


1    2 


FORMS  OF  SPERM  CELLS  (SPERMATOZOA) 

i  and  2,  immature  and  mature  spermatozoa  of 
snail;  3,  of  bird ;  4,  of  man ;  5,  of  salamander; 
6,  of  Ascaris  ;  7,  of  crayfish.  (Enormously  mag- 
nified. Not  drawn  on  scale.)  (From  Thomson) 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEXT  GENERATION      107 

motion.  Each  is  a  single  cell  —  a  sperm.  Each  seems  to 
have  both  head  and  tail,  like  a  stretched-out  tadpole.  All  are 
so  small  that  it  takes  six  thousand  sperm  heads  placed  side 
by  side  to  measure  one  inch.  When  they  have  the  chance 
for  it,  each  is  ready  to  join  an  egg,  and  together  they  start 
life  for  a  new  fish.  This  is  called  fertilization. 

Now  in  a  general  way  this  history  of  fish  beginnings  is 
really  the  history  of  the  beginning  of  every  vertebrate,  man 
included.  There  is  never  any  confusion  in  results.  The  indi- 
vidual started  by  fish  parents  becomes  a  fish,  while  birds  and 
beasts  and  each  separate  kind  of  human  being  have  children 
according  to  their  kind.  This  law  of  life  does  not  vary.  It 
is  immutable. 

It  is  of  course  true  that  the  first  two  cells  do  not  always 
come  upon  one  another  by  the  same  road.  With  fish  they 
are  deposited  side  by  side  in  water.  This  is  all  that  is  neces- 
sary. They  reach  each  other,  and  young  fish  begin  to  develop. 

With  birds  and  other  animals  there  is  another  arrange- 
ment. Since  the  environment  of  creatures  that  do  not  live 
in  water  is  always  dry,  and  since  germ  cells  must  not  be  al- 
lowed to  get  dry  even  if  they  do  belong  to  dry  land  animals, 
nature  provides  for  this.  The  germ  cells  of  these  animals 
pass  directly  from  one  individual  to  another. 

A  further  point  is  that  germ  cells  which  are  to  carry  on  the 
life  of  the  race  —  whether  of  fish  or  of  any  other  creature  — 
must  stay  in  damp  surroundings  from  the  time  they  meet 
until  the  individual  is  formed.  Nature  brings  this  about  in 
three  different  ways : 

1.  With  fish  and  frogs  the  eggs  stay  in  the  water  and 
develop  there. 

2.  With  birds  and  reptiles  a  stout  shell  is  supplied.    This 
shell  grows  about  the  germ  cell  within  the  body  of  the  mother, 


io8 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


sh  m 


and  as  it  thickens,  nature  packs  into  the  shell  a  mass  of  albu- 
men —  the  white  of  the  egg.    This  albumen  does  two  things  : 

a.  It  supplier  moisture  for  the  developing  cell. 

b.  It  provides  nourishment  for  the  growing  individual. 
Moreover,  the  shell  itself  does  two  things  : 

a.  It  is  of  such  a  texture  that  it  keeps  the  moisture  of  the 
albumen  from  evaporating  even  after  the  egg  has  been  laid. 

b.   It  is    so    porous 
a^          that  air  gets  into  it  for 
the    occupant    to    use 
while  it  develops.1 

With  these  facts  in 
mind,  the  natural  ques- 
tion is,  Why  are  not 
all  animals  —  ourselves 
among  the  rest  —  sup- 
plied with  eggshell? 
and  then  hatched  out 
when  the  time  comes  ? 
The  answer  is  that 
when  the  growing  ani- 
mal is  to  be  small,  it  is  comparatively  easy  for  nature  to 
arrange  to  have  it  spend  its  first  stage  of  growing  within  an 
eggshell,  but  when  an  animal  is  to  be  so  large  that  it  must 
develop  for  months  instead  of  weeks  before  it  is  ready  for 
the  outside  world,  then  nature  has  to  make  some  other  ar- 
rangement ;  that  is,  no  egg  can  be  planned  for  big  enough 


DIAGRAM  OF  BIRD'S  EGG 

yk,  yolk ,  £/,  germ  disk  ;  alb,  white,  or  albumen  ;  ch, 

thickened  albumen  which  holds  yolk  in  position  ; 

a,  air  space  ;  sh.  m,  two  shell  membranes  ;  s/i,  shell. 

(From  Parker  and  Haswell) 


1  After  an  egg  has  been  fertilized  and  laid,  it  must  be  kept  at  a  definite 
temperature  for  a  definite  length  of  time.  Hens  and  birds  keep  their  eggs 
warm  enough  by  sitting  on  them.  Incubators  have  to  supply  the  same 
temperature,  else  the  eggs  will  not  hatch.  Each  kind  of  egg  has  its  own 
time  limit  for  hatching. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEXT  GENERATION      109 

to  hold  all  the  nourishment  that  will  be  needed  for  months 
of  growth  within  a  shell.  For  such  cases  nature  has  its 
third  device. 

3.  Instead  of  surrounding  the  germ  cell  with  the  white  of 
an  egg  for  moisture  and  food,  instead  of  supplying  a  shell 
to  keep  the  moisture  in  and  to  protect  the  whole  from  harm, 
instead  of  sending  the  germ  cell  away  from  the  body  to  develop 
by  outside  heat,  nature  sees  to  it  that  the  fertilized  cell  stays 
within  the  body  in  a  soft  covering  of  its  own.  Here  it  is  both 
warm  and  moist.  Here  it  develops  until  it  is  able  to  continue 
its  growth  in  the  outside  world.  This,  then,  is  the  prenatal 
life  history  of  all  mammals,  including  man  ;  and  while  each 
creature  develops  before  birth,  the  wonders  of  life  and  of 
growth  reveal  themselves. 

Dr.  Minot's  facts  about  growth  read  like  a  fairy  tale.  A 
few  of  these  facts  are  given  in  the  n'ext  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  MARVEL  OF  GROWTH 

Dr.  Minot  studied  chicks  from  the  time  they  began  to 
develop  within  the  eggshell  until  the  last  bit  of  down  was 
laid  in  place,  until  the  shell  was  packed  to  its  utmost  limit 
with  a  living  chick,  until  hatching  time  had  come.  To  do 
this  he  took  eggs  that  were  set  for  hatching,  broke  one  on 
each  successive  day,  and  examined  the  contents  both  with 
the  microscope  and  with  the  naked  eye. 

He  also  took  frequent  photographs  of  the  progress  of  these 
developing  chicks.  In  this  way  he  followed  them  step  by  step 
as  the  bundles  of  the  cells  grew  bigger,  and  we  have  the 
printed  record  of  what  he  found. 

First  day,  "  A  mere  gathering  of  cells." 

Second  day,  "  The  chick  has  distinctly  a  head  and  a  little 
heart." 

Third  day,  "  The  eye  has  developed,  the  heart  has  become 
large,  the  tail  is  projecting,  the  dorsal  curve  of  the  future 
neck  is  distinguishable." 

Fourth  day,  "It  is  a  strange-looking  beast,  with  a  wing 
here  and  a  leg  there,  a  little  tail  at  this  point,  an  enormous 
eye,  almost  monstrous  in  proportion,  and,  finally,  a  great 
bulge  caused  by  the  middle  division  of  the  brain." 

Fifth  day,  "  We  now  have  a  chick  the  brain  of  which  is 
swelling,  causing  the  head  to  be  of  so  queer  a  shape,  with 
the  eye  that  seems  all  out  of  proportion  to  the  rest  of  the 
body,  that  it  imparts  an  uncanny  look  to  the  embryo.  The 


THE  MARVEL  OF  GROWTH 


III 


wing  is  showing  itself  somewhat,  and  the  ends  of  the  leg, 
we  can  see,  will  by  expansion  form  the  foot." 

After  ten  full  days  of  growing  we  have  a  chick  with 
feathers  beginning  to  grow  over  the  entire  body.  Within 
those  ten  days  the  two  germ  cells  which  joined  to  form  the 
beginnings  of  the  chick  have  multiplied  themselves  into  this 


ELEVEN  STEPS  IN  THE  EARLY  GROWTH  OF  AN  EMBRYO 

From  a  photograph  of  a  set  of  models,  showing  each  cell  enormously  magnified. 
The  last  three  models  show  longitudinal  sections  and  indicate  how  the  layers  are 

being  formed 

astonishing  result.  Never  again  in  later  life  does  any  chick 
increase  in  size  with  such  surprising  speed  as  is  shown  by 
the  growing  embryo  of  this  oviparous  l  animal. 

The  special  point  to  bear  in  mind  is  that,  from  start  to 
finish,  this  whole  process  of  growing  is  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  the  dividing  and  the  subdividing  of  the  two  germ 
cells  which  were  joined  as  one.  This  first  combination  cell 

1  Animals  developed  from  an  egg  are  called  oviparous. 


112  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

became  two ;  the  two  became  four ;  the  four,  eight.  Then 
there  were  sixteen,  thirty-two,  sixty-four  —  the  total  number 
doubling  about  once  every  hour.  And  this  is  the  way  every 
embryo  begins  to  grow. 

But,  strange  to  say,  although,  when  born,  each  different 
kind  of  animal  is  to  look  so  different  from  all  others,  this 
difference  does  not  show  itself  in  the  earliest  stages  of  the 
different  embryos.  On  the  contrary,  among  vertebrates,  dif- 
ferent embryos  in  their  earliest  stages  look  so  much  alike 
that  often  even  an  experienced  biologist  is  hardly  able  to  dis- 
tinguish fish  from  salamander  or  rabbit  from  man. 

For  days  and  weeks,  however,  the  multiplication  of  cells 
goes  on  steadily,  never  ceasing,  and  even  before  birth  the 
time  comes  at  last  when  each  creature  declares  what  it  is  by 
its  shape  of  body,  legs,  and  head. 

In  the  meantime  the  animaljjiust  have  nourishment  if  it 
is  to  grow,  and  nature  supplies  it.  Animals  in  eggshells  get 
their  first  food  from  the-  yolk  and  then  from  the  white  of 
egg  that  surrounds  the  yolk.  But  when  the  yolk  supply  is  ex- 
hausted, and  when  the  white  part  is  consumed  by  the  cells  as 
they  multiply,  then  it  is  that,  the  expanding  chick  has  to  strike 
for  freedom  and  for  a  new  environment.  The  time  has  come 
when  he  must  have  more  food  and  more  room  to  grow  in. 
He  finds  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  within  his  eggshell. 

Twenty-one  days  after  the  hen  begins  to  sit  on  her  eggs, 
or.an  incubator  begins  to  warm  them,  some  instinct  within  the 
chick  tells  it  to  peck  at  its  shell  and  make  its  way  out  into  the 
world.  The  instinct  is  obeyed,  and  out  steps  a  damp  little 
creature,  as  perfect  as  a  chick  can  ever  be.  Those  three 
weeks  have  been  long  enough  for  multiplying  cells  to  turn 
themselves' into -head  and  feet  and  claws,  dowhahd  muscle, 
brain  and  nervous  system,  and  -every  other  mlriiite'st  part% ••  of ' 


THE  MARVEL  OF  GROWTH        113 

the  marvelous  structure  that  toddles  about  on  its  two  feet  and 
begins  to  peck  at  bits  of  straw  and  kernels  of  grain. 

Other  animals  also  have  their  rate  for  rapid  growing. 
But  before  going  farther,  four  or  five  statements  must  be  made. 

1 .  Vertebrates  are  either  oviparous,  that  is,  developed  from 
an  egg  and  hatched  outside  the  body  of  the  parent,  or  vivip- 
arous, developed  within  the  body  of  the  parent  and  born  alive. 

2.  All  mammals,  except  the  duckbills  of  Australia,  are 
viviparous. 

3.  Whether  it  is  oviparous  or  viviparous,  any  developing 
creature  is  called  an  embryo  until  it  is  hatched  or  born,  as 
the  case  may  be. 

4.  Before  birth  oviparous  animals  receive  their  nourish- 
ment from  food  which  is  stored  within  the  eggshell,  while 
viviparous  animals  receive  their  prenatal  nourishment  from 
the  mother  herself.    It  reaches  them  through  a  tubejike  cord. 
which  joins  the  embryo  to  its  parent.    At  the  outset  this  cord 
is  a  mere  thread,  but  it  grows  stronger  and  stouter  as  the  cells 
of  the  embryo  multiply  and  as  the  developing  creature  grows 
heavier  and  larger  from  day  to  day. 

5 .  It  takes  twenty-one  days  for  a  chick  to  develop  in  its 
shell.   A  duck  develops  in  four  weeks,  a  guinea  pig  in  twenty- 
one  days,  rabbits  and  squirrels  in  thirty  days,  while  for  cats 
it  is  sixty-five  days,  for  dogs  sixty-two,  for  a  lion  three  months, 
for  a  pig  four  months,  for  sheep  and  goats  five  months,  for 
a  bear  six  months,  for  a  cow  nine  months,  for  a  human  baby 
nine  months,  for  a  whale  ten  months,  for  a  giraffe  fourteen 
months,  and  for  an  elephant  twenty-one  months. 

Notice  that  in  general  the  time  needed  for  development 
is  in  proportion  to  the  size  which  the  developing  creature  is 
to  attain  in  the  end.  Yet  in  every  case  the  starting  point  is 
always  the  same  —  no  more  than  two  germ  cells  for  either 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


the  whale  or  the  elephant,  and  no  less  than  two  cells  for  either 

the  mouse  or  the  mosquito. 

In  this  connection  remember  that  never  in  the  life  of  any 

animal  do  cells  multiply  so  fast  as  before  tbe  creature  is  born. 

And  this  applies  equally  well  to  viviparous  and  to  oviparous 

animals.  But  after 
birth,  what  a  differ- 
ence !  Compare,  for 
example,  the  chick 
and  the  rabbit.  The 
former  is  spry  from 
the  start.  He  has 
keen,  round  eyes.  He 
spies  food  at  once, 
seizes  it,  feeds  him- 
self, and  scurries 
about  on  sturdy  little 
legs,  apparently  hav- 
ing a  mind  of  his 
own  from  the  first. 
Fluffy  down  covers 
his  body,  and  in  sum- 
mer, when  chicks  are 
young,  the  warmth  of 
a  sheltering  mother 
often  seems  alto- 
gether superfluous. 
It  is  otherwise  with  the  viviparous  small  rabbit.  He 

arrives  in  the  world  blind,  almost  naked  of  hair,  unable  to 

move  in  this  direction  or  that,  unable  to  hunt  for  food,  able 

indeed  to  do  nothing  more  than  take  food  from  his  mother 

according  as  he  needs  it. 


D 


FOUR  TADPOLES  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  FROG 
(RAN A  FUSCA) 

The  four  animals  are  all  of  the  same  age  (three  days) 
They  were  raised  from  the  same  batch  of  eggs  but 
have  been  kept  at  different   temperatures 
Oskar  Hertwig) 


(After 


THE  MARVEL  OF  GROWTH  1 1 5 

These  two  creatures,  the  chick  and  the  rabbit,  are  good 
illustrations  of  the  difference  between  some  oviparous  and 
many  viviparous  animals.  But,  for  both  alike,  surroundings 
make  all  the  difference  in  the  world  in  their  after  life.  If 
they  have  too  little  food  or  unfit  food,  if  their  environment 
is  too  hot  or  too  cold,  too  wet  or  too  dry,  they  will  not  grow 
as  they  should. 

For  example,  Dr.  Minot  reports  the  effect  of  temperature 
on  the  development  of  tadpoles.  Four  were  taken  from  the 
same  set  of  eggs,  and  each  was  kept  in  water  of  a  different 
temperature.  The  illustration  shows  the  result.  The  one 
marked  D  was  kept  so  warm  and  comfortable  that  the  mul- 
tiplying cells  did  their  best.  After  three  days  he  was  a  lusty 
young  fellow  of  goodly  size  and  shape.  A  was  kept  so  cold 
that  he  barely  lived.  The  result  is  evident.  His  cells  were  so 
chilled  that  they  could  not  multiply  normally. 

These  and  other  experiments  prove  that,  from  the  begin- 
ning, the  condition  of  the  environment  vitally  affects  the 
development  of  the  individual.  When  this  environment  is 
right,  the  development  is  rapid  and  normal ;  when  it  is  wrong, 
the  development  is  sure  to  be  abnormal. 

Dr.  Minot  tells  us  that  in  the  first  year  of  its  life  a  normal 
seven-pound  baby  gains  200  per  cent,  and  will  weigh  2 1  pounds 
by  the  end  of  the  year.  In  the  second  year  he  will  gain  20  per 
cent,  and  after  that  about  10  per  cent  each  year  until  he  is 
fourteen  years  old.  Dr.  Minot  also  pictures  the  growing  baby 
and  shows  that  never  afterwards  does  any  human  being  learn 
so  much  or  grow  so  fast  as  during  its  first  eventful  year 
after  birth.  Two  things  it  can  do  from  the  start :  it  can  take 
nourishment,  and  it  can  thrash  its  arms  and  legs  about  aim- 
lessly. Comparatively  soon,  also,  it  gains  the  powers  of  touch, 
hearing,  sight,  taste,  and  smell.  Through  these  five  roads 


Ii6  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

information  pours  in  upon  the  baby,  and  by  the  end  of  one 
month  he  has  learned  that  certain  sensations  are  pleasant 
and  certain  other  sensations  unpleasant.  He  fastens  his  eyes 
on  this  or  that  and  stares  without  winking.  How  babies  stare  ! 

After  two  months  he  has  learned  to  expect  definite  things 
at  definite  times.  Three  months,  and  the  baby  has  learned 
that  he  can  so  guide  his  muscles  as  to  accomplish  definite 
movements.  This  is  a  very  great  discovery.  He  seizes  his 
own  toes.  He  clutches  other  things  and  pulls  them.  At  the 
fourth  month  he  finds  he  can  really  do  things.  He  shows 
purpose.  "  His  movements  are  no  longer  purely  accidental. 
.  .  .  At  four,  months  he  discovers  that  the  face  and  the  back 
of  the  head  belong  to  the  same  object.  He  has  acquired  the 
idea  of  objects  existing  in  the  world  around  him.  He  has  no 
instructor.  He  is  finding  out  these  things  by  his  own  unaided 
efforts.  Then,  at  five  months,  begins  the  age  of  handling, 
when  the  baby  feels  of  everything."  The  first  five  months, 
as  Dr.  Minot  says,  "  constitute  the  first  period  of  the  baby's 
development.  Its  powers  are  formed  and  the  foundations  of 
knowledge  have  been  laid.  The  second  period  is  a  period  of 
amazing  research,  constant,  uninterrupted,  untiring,  renewed 
the  instant  the  baby  wakes  up,  and  kept  up  until  sleep  over- 
takes it.  In  the  six-months  baby  we  find  already  the  notion 
of  cause  and  effect." 

Dr.  Minot's  description  grows  more  and  more  vivid.  "  By 
eight  months  the  baby  is  upon  the  full  career  of  experiment 
and  observation.  Everything  with  which  he  comes  in  con- 
tact interests  him.  He  looks  at  it,  he  seizes  hold  of  it,  tries 
to  pull  it  to  pieces,  studies  its  texture,  its  tensile  strength, 
and  every  other  quality  it  possesses.  Not  satisfied  with  this, 
he  will  turn  and  apply  his  tongue  to  it,  putting  it  in  his 
mouth  for  the  purpose  of  finding  out  if  it  has  a  taste.  At 


THE  MARVEL  OF  GROWTH  1 1/ 

the  same  time  he  is  making  further  experiments  with  his 
own  body.  He  begins  to  tumble  about,  perhaps  learns  that 
it  is  possible  to  get  from  one  place  to  another  by  rolling 
or  creeping,  and  slowly  he  discovers  the  possibility  of  loco- 
motion, which  you  know  by  the  end  of  the  year  will  have  so 
far  perfected  itself  that  usually  at  twelve  months  the  baby 
can  walk." 

Dr.  Minot  goes  on  to  say  that  if  conditions  are  favorable 
during  these  early  months,  the  later  development  of  the  child 
will  be  greatly  advanced.  "  In  brief,"  he  says,  "  I  find  myself 
led  to  the  hypothesis  that  the  better  health  of  the  mothers 
secures  improved  nourishment  in  the  early  stages  of  the  off- 
spring, and  that  the  maternal  vigor  is  at  least  one  important 
cause  of  the  physical  betterment  of  the  children." 

This  chapter  on  growth  and  the  preceding  chapter  on 
germ  cells  make  it  plain  that  the  welfare  of  the  cell  itself  is 
of  utmost  importance  to  the  individual  that  develops  from 
the  cell.  Imagine,  then,  what  the  result  might  be  if  some- 
thing in  the  blood  could  reach  germ  cells  and  damage  them 
before  they  begin  to  multiply  in  growing. 

The  next  chapter  gives  facts  instead  of  imaginings  con- 
cerning this  very  subject. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

GERM  CELLS  DAMAGED   BY  ALCOHOL 

On  the  fifth  of  December,  1911,  there  appeared  an  article 
in  a  German  paper,  written  by  Dr.  Forel.1  This  article  dis- 
cusses germ  cells  and  gives  an  interesting  account  of  certain 
hens'  eggs  and  their  hatching. 

It  seems  that  160  eggs  were  in  an  incubator  in  a  shed, 
ready  to  be  hatched.  All  were  due  to  hatch  the  same  day, 
but  when  they  appeared,  instead  of  straight-legged,  well- 
shaped  little  creatures,  every  third  chick  that  pecked  its  way 
into  the  world  had  either  crooked  legs,  useless  wings,  a 
twisted  back,  or  some  other  deformity.  Moreover,  instead 
of  1 60  chicks,  only  78  were  hatched,  and  this  included  every 
deformed  one.  The  rest  died  in  their  shells,  not  having 
vigor  enough  to  make  their  way  out.  Worse  yet,  instead  of 
keeping  alive  after  they  were  fairly  hatched,  40  of  the  chicks 
died  within  four  days. 

Such  a  record  as  this  has  to  be  explained  somehow,'  and 
those  who  studied  the  case  searched  surrounding  conditions. 
Dr.  Forel  reports  results.  He  says  the  investigators  found 
that  the  shed  where  the  incubator  was  kept  had  a  cellar  to 
it,  that  the  owner  of  the  eggs  used  this  cellar  as  a  distillery, 
and  that  while  the  chicks  were  developing  in  their  shells  the 
man  had  kept  his  distillery  busy  making  brandy. 

1  Printed  in  the  Munchener  medizinische  Wochenschrift,  December  5, 
1911. 

118 


•       GERM  CELLS  DAMAGED  BY  ALCOHOL        119 

By  putting  two  and  two  together  the  men  came  to  this 
conclusion  :  "  The  distillery  and  its  alcohol  in  the  cellar  killed 
some  of  the  chicks  before  they  were  hatched,  killed  others 
after  they  were  hatched,  and  deformed  all  the  misshapen 
ones  that  we  see  about  us."  Dr.  Forel's  conclusion  was  that 
even  the  fumes  of  alcohol  have  power  to  damage  germ  cells 
while  they  are  turning  into  living  creatures.  No  one  ques- 
tioned the  statement  for  a  moment.  It  is  indeed  quite  in 
line  with  what  Dr.  Fere  discovered  between  the  years  1894 
and  1903. 

He  carried  on  two  sets  of  tests  with  hens'  eggs.  All  the 
eggs  were  hatched  in  incubators.  On  one  set  he  put  vaporized 
alcohol ;  the  other  set  was  left  alone.  He  repeated  this  ex- 
periment many  times,  and  the  results  were  always  the  same. 
Eggs  that  were  not  reached  by  alcoholic  vapor  hatched  out 
into  the  usual  number  of  healthy  chicks  with  minds  ready  for 
active  service.  Eggs  treated  with  the  alcoholic  vapor  produced 
many  deformed  chicks  that  had  -no  minds  whatever.  They 
ranked  among  chicks  as  idiots  rank  among  men.  They  had 
no  mental  power  to  guide  their  lives  by. 

Guinea  pigs  also  add  a  proof  or  two  in  this  direction. 
Dr.  Stockard  was  the  investigator.1  He  says  that  at  first  he 
gave  the  guinea  pigs  alcohol  with  their  food,  but  they  disliked 
it  and  ate  less  food.  Next  he  put  alcohol  into  the  stomach 
through  a  tube,  but  this  distressed  the  animals,  and  he  was 
afraid  it  might  do  them  harm. 

Then  came  his  final  device.  He  made  air-tight  copper  tanks 
that  were  a  yard  long,  a  foot  high,  and  eighteen  inches  wide. 
The  tanks  had  wire-screen  floors,  and  under  the  floors  he  put 
cotton  soaked  in  alcohol.  The  alcohol  evaporated  up  into  the 

1  See  Archives  of  Internal  Medicine,  October,  1912,"  Experimental  Study  of 
Racial  Degeneration  in  Mammals  treated  with  Alcohol." 


I2O 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


tank  until  "  the  atmosphere  was  saturated  with  the  alcoholic 
fumes."  The  place  was  then  ready  for  the  expected  occupants. 
After  this,  as  he  says,  "  the  guinea  pigs,  three  or  four  at  a 
time,  are  placed  on  the  wire  screen  above  the  evaporating 
alcohol,  the  tank  is  closed  and  the  animals  are  allowed  to 
remain  until  they  begin  to  show  signs  of  intoxication,  though 

they  are  never  com- 
pletely intoxicated. 
They  usually  inhale 
the  fumes  about  an 
hour." 

During  all  the  rest 
of  the  time,  day  and 
night,  the  guinea  pigs 
breathed  air  entirely 
unmixed  with  alcohol . 
This  was  the  treat- 
ment they  received 
for  six  days  in  every 
week,  and  it  was 
kept  up  for  nineteen 
months  —  with  what 
results,  we  wonder. 

At  first  the  fumes  troubled  them.  It  made  their  "  eyes 
water  until  tears  ran  over  their  faces."  Dr.  Stockard  says  : 
"  The  majority  of  them  sit  quite  motionless  and  sniff  their 
noses  for  a  time  and  then  become  somewhat  drowsy."  A  few, 
however,  "are  excited  by  the  treatment,  and  run  about  the 
tank,  and  many  often  fight  other  animals  savagely." 

But  in  the  course  of  several  weeks  they  were  not  even  un- 
comfortable in  the  tanks.  They  seemed  to  take  the  fumes  as 
a  matter  of  course,  appeared  healthy,  and  even  gained  flesh. 


COPPER  TANK  USED  IN  DR.  STOCKARD'S 
ALCOHOL  EXPERIMENTS 

Notice  the  light-colored   sponges  under  the  wire 

netting  of  the  floor.   Alcohol  evaporated  from  the 

sponges  into  the  tank 


GERM  CELLS  DAMAGED  BY  ALCOHOL        121 


But  what  about  the  next  generation  during  those  nineteen 
months  ?   Certain  classified  results  answer  this  question. 
There  were  four  kinds  of  tests  : 

1 .  The  paternal  test  —  when  the  father  was  alcoholic,  the 
mother  normal. 

2.  The  maternal  test  —  when  the  mother  was  alcoholic, 
the  father  normal. 

3.  The  double  test  —  when  both  parents  were  alcoholic. 

4.  The  normal  test  —  when  neither  parent  had  endured 
alcoholic  fumes. 

The  table  shows  what  happened  to  the  next  generation  in 
each  of  these  cases. 

ALCOHOL  TESTS 


CONDITION  OF  THE 
ANIMALS 

TOTAL  NUM- 
BER BEFORE- 

BIRTH 

BORN  BE- 
FORE FULLY 
FORMED 

DIED  AT 
BIRTH 

DIED  SOON 
AFTER  BIRTH 

NUMBER 

THAT    LIVED 

Paternal  test     .    . 

34 

H 

8 

•    7 

5 

Maternal  test    .    . 

6 

I 

0 

3 

2 

Double  test  .    .    . 

17 

10 

6 

i 

0 

Normal  test  .    .    . 

17 

o 

o 

0 

17 

Here  we  see,  by  the  last  column,  that  when  neither  of  the  guinea-pig 
parents  was  subjected  to  the  influence  of  alcohol,  all  seventeen  children 
lived;  and  that  when  both  parents  were  affected  by  alcohol  (see  the 
double  test),  ten  children  were  born  before  they  were  fully  formed,  six 
died  at  birth  and  one  after  birth,  while  none  lived. 

These  experiments  leave  no  question  as  to  the  effect  of 
alcohol  on  the  descendants  of  chickens  and  guinea  pigs.  But 
our  special  interest  is  with  human  beings.  In  Philadelphia, 
Dr.  Gordon  studied  1 1 8  families  where  both  father  and  mother 
used  alcohol.  In  these  families  there  were  200  children. 
Of  these  children  150  were  epileptics.  He  also  studied  20 


122  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

families  where  the  grandfather  as  well  as  the  parents  used 
alcohol.  Here  he  found  26  imbecile  children  and  38  who 
were  lunatics,  while  every  one  of  the  others  was  defective 
in  one  way  or  another. 

In  Bern,  Switzerland,  Dr.  Demme  looked  up  the  history 
of  ten  families  that  drank  and  ten  families  that  did  not  drink. 
Study  the  record  and  see  what  happened  to  the  next  genera- 
tion of  those  that  drank. 

RECORD  OF  TEN  DRINKING  AND  TEN  ABSTAINING  FAMILIES 


NUMBER   OK 

DIED  IN 

IDIOTIC,  EPILEPTIC,  DEFORMED, 

CHILDREN 

INFANCY 

SERIOUS  NERVOUS  TROUBLE 

Drinking  families 

57 

12 

36 

9 

Abstaining  families 

61 

5' 

6 

5° 

With  facts  piling  up  in  this  way,  investigators  have  kept 
asking  themselves  just  when  and  how  the  alcohol  of  the 
fathers  most  affects  the  children. 

When  Dr.  Bezzola  tried  to  answer  this  question  he  was 
house  physician  in  an  institution  for  weak-minded  children 
in  Switzerland.  Here  he  noticed  that  almost  always,  when 
weak-minded  children  were  brought  in  to  be  cared  for,  some 
one  would  say,  "  His  father  was  a  notorious  drinker."  To 
see  how  much  truth  there  was  in  this,  Dr.  Bezzola  determined 
to  learn  what  the  facts  really  were.1 

He  took  the  latest  census  report  available  (1880-1890)  and 
found  that  during  those  ten  years  934,631  babies  had  been 
born  in  Switzerland.  He  also  found  what  the  average  number 
of  births  was  for  each  month  of  the  year,  and  discovered 

1  See  publication  by  Dr.  D.  Bezzola,  printed  in  German  :  "  Statistische 
Untersuchungen  iiber  die  Rolle  des  Alkohols  bei  der  Entstehung  des 
originaren  Schwachsinns." 


GERM  CELLS  DAMAGED  BY  ALCOHOL        123 

that  in  some  months  the  proportion  of  idiots  born  was  much 
larger  than  in  other  months.  This  was  quite  a  clue. 

Next  he  looked  up  the  life  history  of  8196  feeble-minded 
persons  who  lived  in  Swiss  asylums,  and  made  note  of  the 
birthday  of  each  one  of  them.  He  wished  to  know  when  the 
children  were  born,  so  that  he  could  count  backwards  forty 
weeks  l  and  find  out  just  when  the  babies  began  to  develop 
from  germ  cells.  He  thought  this  might  show  him  what  the 
condition  of  the  parents  was  at  the  time. 

He  tells  us  that  in  Switzerland  there  are  certain  definite 
seasons  each  year  when  what  he  calls  "  drink-festivities  "  are 
most  abundant  —  New  Year's  and  carnival,  the  vintage  and 
the  harvest  seasons.  Dr.  Bezzola  speaks  of  these  as  alcohol- 
rich  periods. 

From  July  to  September,  however,  wealthy  people  and  poor 
people  alike  are  drinking  less.  They  are  busy  with  summer 
travelers  and  summer  occupations  ;  they  keep  regular  hours 
with  fewer  festivities.  These  are  the  alcohol-poor  months. 

With  his  facts  in  mind  Dr.  Bezzola  turned  to  the  birthdays 
again.  His  chart  of  results  is  given  on  the  next  page. 

Follow  the  lines  from  left  to  right.  Notice  how  they 
move  up  during  certain  months  and  down  during  other 
months.  By  understanding  this  chart  we  are  able  to  under- 
stand the  substance  of  the  report  which  Dr.  Bezzola  made. 

1 .  When  alcohol  festivities  are  most  abundant  in  Switzer- 
land, the  largest  proportion  of  weak-minded  children  receive 
the  gift  of  life.    What  is  true  of  Switzerland  is  no  doubt 
equally  true  everywhere  else  in  the  world. 

2.  In  large  numbers  of  cases  alcohol  and  weak-minded- 
ness stand  together  as  cause  and  effect. 

1  Time  needed  for  a  baby  to  develop  from  two  germ  cells.  See  last 
chapter. 


Sept.  Oct.  Nov.   Dec.  Jan.  Feb.  Mar.  Apr.  May  June  July  Aug. 


104 


101 


100 


97 


95 


9.91 


$39 


too. 


94.88 


ALCOHOL  AND  FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 

1.  The  dark  line  through  the  center  represents  the  daily  average  number  of  births 
for  the  year  as  a  whole. 

2.  The  black  points  in  the  squares  below  the  name  of  each  month  indicate  the 
daily  average  of  births  for  that  particular  month. 

3.  The  black  points  on  the  dotted  line  indicate  the  average  number  of  normal 
persons  born  during  each  month. 

4.  The  black  points  on  the  solid  black  line  indicate  the  average  number  of  feeble- 
minded persons  born  during  each  month. 

5.  Count  backward  nine  months  from  each  point  to  discover  the  month  of  con- 
ception for  both  sets  of  persons. 

6.  Studied  in  connection  with  each  other,  the  dotted  and  the  solid  lines  show 
that  there  are  certain  months  of  the  year  when  the  (daily)  average  of  births  is  high, 
both  for  normal  and  for  feeble-minded  persons.    In  addition,  the  solid  line  shows 
that  the  average  for  feeble-minded  persons  rises  unusually  high  and  falls  unusually 
low  according  as  the  months  in  which  the  individuals  started  to  grow  are  alcohol- 
rich  or  alcohol-poor.  For  example,  notice  that  the  average  number  of  feeble-minded 
persons  born  in  January,  February,  and  March  is  very  high,  and  remember  that  the 
alcohol-rich  period  of  April,  May,  and  June  came  nine  months  earlier.   Also  notice 
that  the  average  number  of  feeble-minded  persons  born  in  May  and  June  is  very  low, 
and  remember  that  the  alcohol-poor  months  of  August  and  September  came  nine 
months  before.    (From  Dr.  Bezzola's  Chart) 

124 


GERM  CELLS  DAMAGED  BY  ALCOHOL        125 

It  is  true  that  many  drinkers  have  intelligent  children,  but, 
as  Dr.  Bezzola  says  again,  "  These  people  were  free  from 
too  much  alcohol  at  the  time  the  new  life  was  started."  . 

No  one  can  ever  tell  just  how  much  alcohol  a  person  may 
take  without  damaging  a  future  child,  but  Dr.  Bezzola  declares 
that  "  the  time  may  come  when  we  shall  see  that  every  drop 
of  alcohol  taken  by  the  parent  means  a  drop  of  stupidity  for 
the  child." 

From  other  studies  which  he  made  Dr.  Bezzola  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  germ  cells  themselves  may  be  damaged  when 
alcohol  enters  the  blood  stream,  and  that  human  beings  who 
develop  from  such  damaged  cells  are  doomed  from  the  start. 

Future  investigations  will  show  whether  or  not  alcohol  is 
entirely  to  blame.  In  the  meantime  we  are  interested  in  such 
studies  because  they  show  that  alcohol  which  ancestors  use, 
seems  to  curse  numberless  descendants  in  body  or  mind,  or 
in  both.  The  worst  of  it  is  that  the  curse  is  liable  to  be 
passed  on  even  though  these  descendants  do  not  themselves 
use  alcohol. 

Never  blame  any  weak-minded  person.  Remember  that  he 
cannot  help  himself,  and  remember  that  probably  his  parents 
injured  him  through  ignorance.  Be  thankful  that  your  ances- 
tors stamped  you  aright.  Be  thankful  also  that  you  have  grown 
up  as  a  normal  human  being,  and  that  you  are  able  to  under- 
stand something  about  the  marvel  of  growth  which  changes 
vigorous  germ  cells  into  well-developed  chicks  and  children. 

After  the  earliest  years  of  growing  are  over,  the  next 
most  important  era  of  life  lies  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 
and  twenty.  This  period  is  the  borderland  between  childhood 
and  maturity. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

FROM  FOURTEEN  TO  TWENTY 

In  1897,  for  the  sake  of  gathering  facts,  Dr.  Luther  H. 
Gulick  wrote  a  letter  in  which  he  asked  a  large  group  of  men 


12 


10 


Ages 


11 


14 


13 


15 


16    ,« 


18 


19 


Numbers     7    20   13   45    14   69   46    66  50    44   45    31   33   13    11 
AGE  OF  RELIGIOUS  INTEREST 

certain  definite  questions.    Among  these  questions  were  the 
following : 

1 .  At  what  age  were  you  first  deeply  affected  by  religious 
influences  ? 

2.  At  what  age  did  you  become  a  Christian  ? 

126 


FROM  FOURTEEN  TO  TWENTY 


127 


3.  At  what  age  did  you  unite  with  the  Church  ? 

A  copy  of  his  letter  was  sent  to  the  general  secretary  of 
each  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  the  United  States 
and  in  Canada. 

Five  hundred  and  ninety  answers  came  back.  Dr.  Gulick 
studied  these  carefully,  put  all  answers  of  the  same  kind  to- 


16 


18 


14 


12 


13 


15 


19 


30 


24 


Number    9     4     9    12    37   33    52   46   59    47    60  48   47   34    15    11    4 
AGE  OF  CONVERSION 

gether,  made  out  tables  of  classified  figures,  and  printed 
them  for  the  benefit  of  other  investigators.  He  was  as  sur- 
prised as  any  one  at  what  he  found. 

The  tables  showed  that  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  the 
one  special  choice  which  turned  the  lives  of  the  men  up- 
ward instead  of  downward  was  made  between  the  ages  of 
fourteen  and  twenty.  Since  such  tables  are  even  more  inter- 
esting to  young  people  than  to  their  elders,  they  are  given 
here  in  full. 


128 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


Other  tables  illustrate  the  same  point.  Mr.  Starbuck  gath- 
ered material  and  made  out  charts  both  for  men  and  for  women. 
These  show  the  same  general  facts  which  Dr.  Gulick  brought 
out.  They  also  show  that  in  general  girls  made  decisions  at 
an  earlier  age  than  boys  did.  This  is  because  young  girls  are 
usually  more  mature  than  boys  of  the  same  age. 


16 


14 


12 


11 


Ages 


13 


18 


19    20 


21 


22 


Number  7      5     8    12    37    32   51    54   66    49   57   44   43    45  17    11   12   13    3 
AGE  OF  JOINING  THE  CHURCH 

There  are  also  tables  of  choices  of  another  sort.  Dr.  Gulick 
studied  the  report  on  crime  and  pauperism,  given  in  the 
Eleventh  Census  of  the  United  States.  From  this  report 
he  made  another  set  of  statistical  tables. 

.  These  show  that  the  average  age  of  those  who  were  in 
prison  at  the  time  the  reports  were  made  out  was  twenty- 
three  years.  Now  this  is  so  much  older  than  the  period  of 
conversion  given  in  the  previous  tables,  that  we  wonder  if 


FROM  FOURTEEN  TO  TWENTY  129 

decisions  for  evil  are  made  later  in  life  than  those  for  good. 
Dr.  Gulick  says  the  reports  do  not  show  when  the  men  were 
put  in  prison,  but  that  the  "  average  length  of  a  man's  sen- 
tence to  prison  in  America  is  4.07  years,"  and  that  we  may 
assume  that,  on  the  average,  half  of  the  sentence  of  these 
men  had  expired.  This  "  would  make  the  average  on  enter- 
ing prison,  of  the  maximum  group,  twenty-one  instead  of 
twenty-three  years."  Then  he  adds,  "  If  now  we  could  find 
the  age  at  which  these  individuals  were  committed  to  prison 
for  their  first  crime,  it  would  be  much  younger  yet,  but  this 
is  impossible  and  must  be  left  to  conjecture."  He  closes  by 
saying,  "  The  tremendous  fact  remains  that  more  individ- 
uals take  to  criminal  life  at  twenty  or  under  than  at  any  or 
all  other  periods  of  life  combined."  His  claim  indeed  is  that 
first  decisions,  both  for  good  and  for  evil,  fall  within  the 
adolescent  period.  What  is  this  period  ?  we  ask.  What  are 
the  signs  and  symptoms  of  it  ?  Since  knowledge  leads  to 
self-control,  the  following  facts  are  important. 

In  all  forms  of  life  the  time  is  sure  to  come  when  a  great 
change  transforms  the  outlook  of  things  for  each  individual. 
Up  to  this  point  the  body  has  been  growing  continuously.  It 
has  taken  nourishment,  has  developed  after  the  fashion  of 
its  ancestors,  has  been  influenced  by  its  environment,  and 
has  become  vigorous  or  frail  according  as  the  conditions  of 
food  and  of  health  have  favored  or  hindered  its  development. 

Each  step  of  this  process  goes  on  for  a  definite  length  of 
time.  But  it  is  all  mere  preparation,  for  at  the  end  of  it 
every  creature  that  survives  childhood  enters  on  what  proves 
to  be  the  most  significant  era  in  its  history. 

Until  the  dawn  of  this  new  era,  mature  germ  cells  are  not 
found  in  the  growing  body.  Now,  however,  the  special  ma- 
terial which  has  been  there  since  birth,  becomes  active,  and 


130 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


o  3 


a      s 


AGE  OF  IMPRISONMENT 

Scale,  1000  to  the  inch.  This  table  shows  the  total  number  of  criminals  for  each 
year  who  were  between  the  ages  of  ten  and  forty-five  years.  Both  prisoners  and 
inmates  of  reformatory  institutions  were  included.  The  upright  lines  indicate  the 
ages.  The  figures  at  the  bottom,  between  the  lines,  indicate  the  number  of  persons 
of  the  given  age;  that  is,  there  were  506  who  were  ten  years  old,  511  who  were 
eleven  years  old,  etc. 

the  body,  as  it  develops  in  new  directions,  accommodates  its 
growing  to  the  demands  which  germ  cells  place  upon  it. 

For  human  beings  no  period  of  life  is  more  full  of  fateful 
import  than  the  years  between  fourteen  and  twenty.   When 


FROM  FOURTEEN  TO  TWENTY  131 

the  era  opens,  the  person  is  a  simple  child  with  childish 
thoughts,  childish  interests  and  ambitions.  When  the  era 
ends,  the  person  has  become  a  man  with  his  greatest  de- 
cisions of  life  already  made,  with  the  destiny  of  the  rest 
of  his  life  practically  settled.  And  this  spiritual  development 
goes  parallel  with  a  development  of  the  body. 

Each  organ,  bone,  and  muscle  now  speeds  its  growing. 
Arms  and  legs  stretch  out  so  far  that  sometimes  they  seem 
altogether  too  long.  For  boys  the  shoulders  broaden,  the 
back  grows  stronger,  the  jaw  is  firmer,  the  biceps  and 
other  muscles  grow  bigger.  In  every  physical  direction  of 
height,  weight,  and  strength,  the  body  clearly  indicates  that 
it  is  preparing  for  maturity. 

All  these  changes  are,  in  point  of  fact,  the  physical  gate- 
way to  manhood.  Nature  is  developing  a  man,  the  highest 
product  of  evolution,  one  who  will  become  the  ancestor  of 
others  like  himself. 

The  transformation  is  just  as  real  for  a  girl.  Her  form 
grows  rounder  ;  her  voice  becomes  sweeter  and  richer.  Every- 
thing points  to  maturity.  Her  cells  too  are  preparing  them- 
selves for  a  next  generation. 

In  the  meantime,  for  boys  and  girls  alike,  the  emotional 
nature  keeps  step  with  the  physical.  Every  sense  grows  more 
keen,  more  alert.  New  sensations  are  at  hand,  new  ambi- 
tions, new  hopes,  new  fears.  Some  are  so  intense  that  the 
youth  hardly  knows  himself,  while  imagination  seems  to  lead 
the  way  with  a  flaming  torch.  Nothing  is  beyond  its  reach. 

Boys  now  read  tales  of  great  adventure  and  count  them- 
selves the  equal  of  the  heroes.  They  study  science  with 
enthusiasm.  Machinery  of  every  sort  fascinates  them — wire- 
less telegraphy  and  the  telephone,  steam  engines,  and  the 
aeroplane.  They  wish  to  know  where  life  comes  from,  what 


132  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

it  really  is,  and  what  relation  the  generations  of  the  past  bear 
to  those  of  the  future.  It  is  just  now  that  passions  become 
strong.  It  is  during  these  years  that  boys  meet  some  of  the 
great  temptations  of  life.  If  they  can  keep  their  craft  steady 
as  it  whirls  through  the  adolescent  years,  they  may  be  trusted 
to  guide  it  safely  thereafter. 

On  every  side  great  subjects  appeal  to  the  imagination 
and  spread  themselves  before  the  eager  gaze  of  boys  who 
first  really  begin  to  grasp  the  splendor  of  life  during  their 
years  of  rapid  change.  At  the  same  time  these  boys  grow 
so  fast  that  hands  and  feet  seem  to  be  in  the  way.  They 
are  awkward  in  the  presence  of  older  people  and  of  girls. 
They  begin  to  shave  and  to  think  more  about  their  per- 
sonal appearance.  They  wish  to  do  such  things  as  seem 
most  manly. 

It  is  during  this  period  that  many  boys,  if  they  are  igno- 
rant of  scientific  facts  about  tobacco,  begin  to  smoke.  They 
do  this  innocently,  not  knowing  about  the  harm  which  may 
follow.  They  take  to  smoking  not  because  the  odor  or  the 
taste  or  the  sight  of  tobacco  pleases  them,  but  simply  be- 
cause just  now  smoking  seems  to  them  a  great  and  manly 
deed.  The  mere  fact  that  a  boy  begins  to  smoke  in  his  teens 
shows  that  he  is  passing  through  the  period  of  life  when  he 
wishes  to  be  counted  manly.  Almost  unconsciously  he  aims 
for  the  admiration  of  his  fellows.  Sometimes  he  is  even 
lawless  for  the  same  reason. 

Friends  who  watch  the  changing  boy  wait  anxiously  for  the 
outcome.  Sometimes  he  himself  is  perplexed.  He  should  be 
told  that,  whether  he  wills  it  so  or  not,  he  himself  is  the 
prophet  of  his  own  future.  He  must  know  that  while  imag- 
ination and  ambition  have  their  hold  on  the  rudder  of  his 
craft,  self-control  and  will  power  stand  there,  too.  He  must 


"FROM  FOURTEEN  TO  TWENTY  133 

not  forget  that,  for  good  or  for  evil,  character  develops  as 
fast  as  cells  multiply,  and  that,  by  his  own  choosing,  he  him- 
self decides  what  the  nature  of  his  character  development 
shall  be. 

During  this  adolescent  period  girls  find  themselves  more 
self-conscious  than  formerly,  more  subject  to  the  blues,  more 
given  to  reverie,  more  critical  of  themselves  and  others. 
Often  they  are  shy  and  awkward,  while  at  the  same  time 
some  of  them  giggle  at  everything  and  at  nothing.  In  fact 
giggling  is  one  of  the  symptoms  of  their  shyness.  They  begin 
to  think  more  about  their  clothes,  their  looks,  and  their  man- 
ners, and  about  boys  and  what  will  please  them.  Some  girls 
become  unexpectedly  forward ;  others  find  themselves  sensi- 
tive and  tearful  —  so  much  so  that  their  parents  and  friends 
sigh  and  exclaim,  "  What  in  the  world  is  the  matter  with 
her  ?  She  does  n't  seem  at  all  like  herself  lately." 

Let  no  one  worry,  least  of  all  the  girl  herself.  The  period 
of  change  will  come  to  an  end ;  and  after  a  while  she  will 
lose  whatever  she  may  now  have  of  unusual  boldness  or  of 
awkwardness,  of  shyness,  of  giggles,  or  of  tears.  For,  despite 
them  all,  even  now  she  grows  constantly  more  attractive  in 
appearance  and  more  winsome  in  manner.  She  is  becoming 
more  womanly  and  gracious  day  by  day.  She  cares  more  for 
the  welfare  of  others,  feels  more  sympathy  for  those  who 
suffer,  grows  ambitious  to  excel  in  all  lines  of  endeavor,  some- 
times takes  the  highest  rank  in  her  classes,  is  in  danger  of 
living  under  high  nervous  pressure,  and  must  be  protected 
against  herself  by  those  to  whom  she  is  dearest. 

It  is  during  these  same  years  that  girls  dream  daydreams 
and  are  tempted  to  overdo  the  reading  of  fiction.  Much  read- 
ing of  this  kind  is  harmful,  because  it  abnormally  stimulates 
the  imagination  and  the  emotions.  Girls  as  well  as  boys  meet 


134  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

strong  temptations  during  these  years ;  girls  as  well  as  boys 
make  or  mar  their  future  by  the  decisions  made  just  now. 

Indeed,  no  transformation  of  chrysalis  into  butterfly  is 
ever  more  wonderful  than  this  change  of  human  beings  from 
childhood  to  manhood  and  womanhood.  It  is  therefore  es- 
sential that  those  who  pass  through  the  transformation  should 
have  no  false  notions  about  it.  For  some  the  change  comes 
earlier,  for  some  later ;  for  some  one  kind  of  temptation  is 
strongest,  for  others  another  kind  of  temptation.  But,  whether 
one  experience  comes  or  another,  whether  life  turns  this  way 
or  that,  the  adolescent  era  and  all  that  goes  with  it  is  part  of 
the  universal  life  of  humanity,  and  it  is  during  this  era  that 
decisions  count  for  most. 

At  the  close  of  this  chapter  come  two  quoted  conclusions  : 

1.  "The  period  of  special  instability  of  the  moral  life  is 
the  adolescent  period." 

2.  u  This  is  the  period  in  which  the  moral  surroundings  of 
the  individual  should  be  most  carefully  guarded.    It  is  the 
storm-and-stress  period.    It  is  the  period  during  which  life's 
moral  fiber  is  usually  formed." 

For  these  reasons,  then,  those  who  find  themselves  within 
the  zone  of  the  adolescent  years  are  wise  when  they  attend 
to  everything  that  strengthens  body,  mind,  and  will  power.1 
Habits  both  good  and  bad,  habits  of  health  and  of  character, 
or  the  reverse,  formed  now  will,  in  all  likelihood,  hold  until 
death.  Thus  it  is  that  the  destiny  of  man's  life  does  not  de- 
pend upon  the  Fates,  as  the  ancients  thought,  but  upon  his 
own  choices  during  the  adolescent  years. 

He  may  send  his  future  prospects  upward  or  downward 
according  to  the  decisions  of  his  unhindered  will.  And,  more 

1  For  facts  about  will  power  see  "  Control  of  Body  and  Mind,"  chaps,  xxv 
and  xxvii. 


FROM  FOURTEEN  TO  TWENTY  135 

serious  than  anything  else,  whether  he  wills  it  so  or  not,  in 
deciding  his  own  fate,  in  forming  his  own  habits,  he  often 
decides  the  habits  and  settles  the  fate  of  his  descendants  for 
generations  yet  to  come. 

The  next  chapter  deals  with  one  of  these  habits  —  a  habit 
which  is  able  to  affect  the  welfare  of  future  generations,  and 
for  this  reason  cannot  be  ignored  by  such  a  book  as  this. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

NICOTINE  AND  ADOLESCENCE 

At  a  certain  banquet  in  Chicago  last  year  most  of  the  men 
were  smoking.  But  my  friend  did  not  smoke.  Neither  did 
the  man  at  his  right.  Instead,  this  man  said  in  a  low  voice  : 
"  The  truth  is,  I  have  two  growing  boys,  and  I  've  made  a 
bargain  with  them  not  to  smoke  if  they  would  n't.  I  knew  if 
I  smoked,  they  probably  would,  whether  I  wanted  them  to 
or  not ;  that  if  they  smoke,  their  sons  probably  will  some 
day,  and  I  don't  want  to  be  responsible  for  damaging  the 
whole  set  of  my  descendants.  That 's  why  we  've  bargained 
not  to  smoke." 

As  appeared  afterwards,  both  the  man  and  his  sons  knew 
about  Dr.  McKeever's  smoking  experiments.  It  also  ap- 
peared that,  in  what  he  was  studying  out,  Dr.  McKeever 
had  enlisted  the  help  of  over  one  hundred  boys,  that  their  ages 
ranged  from  twelve  to  twenty  years,  and  that  they  all  smoked. 
Indeed,  it  was  just  because  they  smoked  that  Dr.  McKeever 
was  making  his  tests. 

He  wished  to  see  for  himself  what  tobacco  does  for  the 
boys.  If  it  helps  them  either  in  body  or  in  mind,  he  intended 
to  pass  the  fact  on  for  the  benefit  of  other  boys. 

In  carrying  on  his  investigations,  Dr.  McKeever  used 
the  sphygmograph.  This  machine  has  a  clockwork  contri- 
vance which  moves  a  strip  of  smoked  paper,  on  which  a 
needle  records  the  heartbeat.  It  is  fastened  to  the  wrist 
directly  over  the  artery  which  passes  that  way,  and  as  the 

136 


NICOTINE  AND  ADOLESCENCE  137 

artery  throbs  with  the  beating  of  the  heart,  the  needle  of  the 
sphygmograph  traces  its  way  across  the  smoked  paper  and 
leaves  its  scientifically  exact  record  there  in  black  and  white. 

The  boys  were  interested  in  the  way  the  machine  worked, 
and  in  what  it  told  about  their  heart  action  before  and  after 
smoking. 

The  records  were  taken  at  different  times  during  the  year, 
and  each  was  slightly  different  from  all  the  others,  just  as 
the  handwriting  of  one  person  always  differs  from  that  of 
another.  On  the  whole,  however,  the  various  reports  of  the 


SPHYGMOGRAPH  RECORD  OF  THE  HEARTBEAT  OF  A  YOUNG  WOMAN  ON 

THE  VERGE  OF  NERVOUS  PROSTRATION 
The  young  woman  does  not  smoke.    (From  Dr.  McKeever) 

sphygmograph  explained  two  apparently  contradictory  facts, 
both  of  which  are  perfectly  well  known  : 

1.  The  smoker  says  he  feels  better,  is  able  to  think  faster 
and  to  work   harder,  just  after   smoking  than  before  the 
smoking  began. 

2.  Athletic  coaches  say  tobacco  prevents  success.     They 
therefore  prohibit  its  use  by  their  men. 

It  is  as  if  one  honest  man  said,  "  Smoking  does  me  good," 
while  another  man,  equally  honest,  says  positively,  "  Smoking 
does  you  harm." 

To  reconcile  these  differences,  we  turn  to  the  diagrams 
borrowed  from  Dr.  McKeever's  record.  Notice  that  one  of 
these  shows  the  heartbeat  of  a  tired  young  woman.  She  did 
not  smoke,  but  she  was  on  the  verge  of  nervous  prostration. 
Compare  this  with  the  heartbeat  record  of  the  vigorous  young 


138 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


fellow  of  nineteen  who  did  not  smoke.    It  shows  the  kind  of 
work  a  healthy  boy's  healthy  heart  should  do  for  him. 

Compare  both  these  records  with  the  wave  lines  in  the 
third  diagram  —  the  one  on  the  next  page.  See  that  first 
flattened-out  report  ( I ),  taken  before  the  smoking  began.  It  is 


SPHYGMOGRAPH  RECORDS  OF  THE  NORMAL  HEART 

i,  tracing  for  a  vigorous  fellow  of  nineteen  ;  does  not  smoke.   2,  healthy  heartbeat; 

a  calm  temperament ;  does  not  smoke.  3,  heart  tracing  for  a  healthy  young  woman  ; 

does  not  smoke.    (From  Dr.  McKeever) 

quite  like  the   heartbeat  of  the  worn-out  young  woman  — 
flabby,  weak,  lifeless.    No  wonder  the  fellow  felt  dull ! 

Study  the  next  report  from  the  same  person.  See  the  beat 
bound  upward  when  the  smoking  begins  —  stronger,  faster, 
more  vigorous.  Fresh  blood  is  being  sent  to  every  part  of 
the  body.  The  brain  feels  it  first,  and  every  thinking  cell 
becomes  more  active.  The  smoker  says  he  "  feels  good." 
And  no  wonder.  Not  brain  cells  alone,  but  muscles  and  liver, 
stomach  and  lungs  and  spleen,  all  these  are  getting  better 
blood  faster  and  in  larger  quantity.  Even  the  farthest-off, 
smallest  capillary  is  stretched  out  a  little  larger,  and  more 
blood  than  usual  hurries  through  it  for  a  few  minutes.1 

1  For  description  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  see  "  The  Body  at 
Work,"  of  the  Gulick  Hygiene  Series,  chap.  ix. 


NICOTINE  AND  ADOLESCENCE 


139 


But  this  inspiring  flush-time  is  soon  over.  Fifteen  minutes 
have  passed.  Even  yet  the  sphygmograph  has  not  been  taken 
from  the  wrist.  It  is  still  making  records.  And  now  see  what 
has  happened.  All  the  splendid  vigor  has  faded  out.  Once 


SPHYGMOGRAPH  RECORDS  OF  THE  HEARTBEAT  OF  Two 
DIFFERENT  PERSONS 

1,  2,  3,  tracings  made  by  the  heart  of  a  young  man  of  nineteen :  i,  before  smoking; 

2,  while  smoking  ;  3,  after  smoking.   He  began  to  smoke  cigarettes  at  fifteen.  4,  5,  6, 
tracings  made  by  the  heart  of  a  young  man  of  twenty  :  4,  before  smoking;    5,  while 
smoking ;  6,  after  smoking.   Began  smoking  at  thirteen ;  now  uses  a  strong  pipe. 

(From  Dr.  McKeever) 

again  that  heart  beats  almost  at  dead  level.  Brain  cells  lose 
their  courage.  Muscle  and  liver,  stomach,  lungs,  and  spleen 
have  to  do  the  best  they  can  with  the  slow-moving  blood.  It 
brings  short  rations  of  food  to  cells  that  cry  out  for  nourish- 
ment. But,  sad  to  say,  the  slow-pumping  heart  will  stay  in 


140  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

charge  of  the  slow-moving  blood  until  the  next  cigareite  is 
smoked.  Then  it  will  jump  into  quick  action  again  for  a 
few  minutes. 

And  this  is  why  a  smoker  must  often  use  fifty  and  sixty 
cigarettes  a  day  to  keep  his  heart  up  to  the  mark.  This  is 
why  a  healthy  heart  gets  turned  into  a  tobacco  heart.  This  is 
why  the  steady  smoker  often  fails  where  he  wishes  to  succeed. 
And  the  fundamental  reason  for  all  this  is  the  double  charac- 
ter of  tobacco ;  it  is  a  stimulant  and  it  is  also  a  poison.  The 
smoker  craves  the  stimulation  ;  in  addition  he  receives  the 
poison  of  nicotine. 

To  show  the  power  of  this  poison,  take  the  case  of  Dr. 
Kellogg's  frogs.  He  bought  a  cigarette,  extracted  the  nico- 
tine from  it,  and  injected  part  of  this  harmless-looking, 
colorless  liquid  into  a  full-grown  frog.  The  small  creature 
died  promptly.  He  took  another  good-sized,  perfectly  healthy 
frog,  injected  the  rest  of  the  nicotine  into  it,  and  it  too  died 
at  once. 

Dr.  Kellogg  goes  on  to  say  that  "  one  fourteenth  of  a  drop 
of  nicotine  will  kill  a  frog  in  ten  seconds,  while  one  sixth  of 
a  drop  will  kill  a  cat  in  fourteen  seconds." 

Homer  Leslie  was  eight  months  old.  He  was  playing  out 
of  doors,  as  Dr.  Kellogg  says,  when  he  found  a  half-smoked 
cigarette.  He  put  it  into  his  mouth,  chewed  it  awhile,  was 
taken  violently  ill,  and  died  within  a  few  hours.  The  doctor 
said  it  was  the  nicotine  of  the  tobacco  that  killed  him. 

If  tobacco  leaves  could  be  robbed  of  their  nicotine,  smoking 
would  be  a  fairly  harmless  habit.  But  the  two  are  inseparable. 
When  a  man  sets  fire  to  his  cigarette,  the  tobacco  turns  itself 
to  smoke  and  ashes,  and  while  this  happens  the  nicotine 
turns  into  vapor.  If,  now,  the  man  draws  the  smoke  into  his 
lungs,  the  vaporized  nicotine  goes  with  it.  But  after  reaching 


NICOTINE  AND  ADOLESCENCE  141 

the  lungs,  they  separate.  The  smoke  stays  on  all  the  deli- 
cate tissues  of  the  lung  cells,  which  is  bad  enough.  But 
volatilized  nicotine  is  not  hindered  by  any  tissues.  Instead,  it 
passes  directly  through  the  tissue  of  the  lung  cells,  enters  the 
blood  stream,  and  is  whirled  to  the  heart  by  the  straightest 
road  possible. 

At  the  moment  it  arrives,  the  sphygmograph  shows  what 
the  poisoned  whip  has  done.  It  has  lashed  the  heart  to 
vigorous  action  —  not  to  last  long,  however,  for  soon  the 
same  sphygmograph  shows  that  the  vigor  has  gone  and  that 
the  permanent  condition  grows  worse  rather  than  better. 

The  United  States  army  gives  proof  of  this.  At  an  ex- 
amination for  the  military  school  at  West  Point  one  quarter 
of  the  young  men  had  to  be  refused  admittance  because  they 
had  what  is  called  "  tobacco  heart "  from  cigarette  smoking. 

At  another  time  a  set  of  412  boys  wished  to  enter  the 
naval  school  at  Annapolis.  They  were  examined  by  an  officer 
in  Peoria,  Illinois,  and  all  but  14  were  turned  away.  As  was 
said  by  the  examiner,  "  Of  the  398  rejections,  the  greater 
number  were  on  account  of  weak  hearts,  and  in  the  majority 
of  cases  this  was  caused  by  cigarette  smoking." 

So  the  list  of  those  who  have  harmed  themselves  through 
ignorance  might  be  lengthened. 

With  these  facts  in  mind  we  understand  why  it  is  that,  in 
every  school  and  college  where  the  subject  has  been  looked 
into,  people  find  that,  on  the  average,  smoking  students  rank 
lower  and  are  slightly  older  than  those  who  do  not  smoke. 

In  1897,  at  Yale  University,  when  Dr.  Seaver  made  his 
thorough  study  of  the  matter,  he  found  that  out  of  every 
100  students  who  ranked  highest,  5  were  smokers,  95  non- 
smokers.  Among  the  rest  of  the  students  at  that  time,  60  out 
of  every  100  smoked.  He  also  found  that,  on  the  average, 


142  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

those  who  did  not  smoke  gained  more  in  height  and  weight 
and  girth  of  chest  than  those  who  smoked. 

Remember  that  these  Yale  students  were  still  in  the  grow- 
ing time  of  life.  Recall  the  facts  of  the  last  chapter ;  then 
imagine  what  it  means  to  have  a  young  and  growing  heart 
attacked  over  and  over  again,  day  in  and  day  out,  for  weeks 
and  months  and  years,  by  a  poison  that  does  its  worst  work 
with  the  heart  itself.1 

In  1910  Dr.  Meylan  studied  the  same  subject  with  students 
in  Columbia  University,  and  among  his  final  conclusions  he 
made  the  two  following  statements  : 

1.  "All  scientists  are  agreed  that  the  use  of  tobacco  by 
adolescents  is  injurious ;   parents,  teachers,  and  physicians 
should  strive  earnestly  to  warn  youths  against  its  use." 

2.  "It  has  been  shown  conclusively  by  this  study  that  the 
use  of  tobacco  by  college  students  is  closely  associated  with 
idleness,   lack  of    ambition,    lack  or"    application,    and    low 
scholarship." 

Various  ignorant  people  are  ready  to  protest  against  this 
conclusion  about  the  students.  We  must  therefore  let  them 
choose  for  themselves  between  two  horns  of  the  dilemma.  I 
give  them.  Either  the  smoker  is  naturally  stupid  and  we 
should  pity  not  blame  him  when  he  ranks  low  in  his  class, 
or  he  is  naturally  bright  but  by  his  own  hand  has  dulled 
his  brain  with  nicotine  and  made  it  impossible  for  that  brain 
to  do  its  best  work  in  the  classroom.  Perhaps  the  latter  case 
needs  more  pity  than  the  former. 

Thus  far  this  chapter  says  nothing  about  grown  men  who 
smoke,  because  all  agree  that  it  is  the  adolescent  person  who 
suffers  most.  Let  a  man  begin  to  smoke  after  he  is  twenty-five, 
and  as  a  rule  he  will  do  himself  less  harm  than  if  he  began  in 

1  For  full  particulars  see  "  Town  and  City,"  chap,  xviii. 


NICOTINE  AND  ADOLESCENCE  143 

his  teens.  Nevertheless,  thousands  upon  thousands  of  middle- 
aged  men  are  bound  hand  and  foot  by  the  tobacco  habit. 

Fortunately,  some  of  them  are  able  to  break  the  habit,  as 
did  Senator  Depew,  president  of  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad.  I  give  part  of  his  story  in  his  own  words  : 

"  I  used  to  smoke  some  twenty  cigars  a  day,  and  continued 
it  till  I  became  worn  out.  I  did  not  know  what  was  the  matter 
with  me,  and  physicians  that  I  applied  to  did  not  mention 
tobacco.  I  used  to  go  to  bed  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning 
and  wake  at  five  or  six.  I  had  no  appetite  and  was  a  dys- 
peptic. One  day  I  bought  a  cigar  and  was  puffing  it  with 
the  feeling  of  pleasure  which  is  only  possible  to  the  devotee. 
I  smoked  on  only  a  few  moments,  and  then  took  it  out  of  my 
mouth  and  looked  at  it.  I  said  to  it,  '  My  friend  and  bosom 
companion,  you  have  always  been  far  dearer  to  me  than  gold. 
To  you  I  have  been  ever  devoted,  yet  you  are  the  cause  of 
all  my  ills.  The  time  has  come  when  we  must  part.'  I  gazed 
sadly  and  longingly  at  the  cigar,  then  threw  it  into  the  street. 
I  had  been  convinced  that  tobacco  was  ruining  me.  I  have 
never  smoked  from  that  day  to  this." 

In  all  such  care  of  ourselves  we  must  not  forget  the  bear- 
ing of  the  tobacco  habit  on  the  next  generation.  It  is  true 
that  tobacco  has  not  yet  been  shown  to  directly  affect  germ 
cells,  but  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  it  harmfully  affects  the 
smoker  himself,  especially  if  he  begins  to  smoke  before 
maturity.  And  if  a  man  smokes,  his  son  is  almost  sure  to  do 
so.  In  this  case,  therefore,  the  harm  which  passes  from  one 
generation  to  the  next  travels  by  what  is  known  as  social  in- 
heritance, not  by  that  which  is  biological.  The  damage  of 
such  an  inheritance  is  none  the  less  real,  however,  for  in 
character  and  habits  children  are  apt  to  become  what  their 
parents  have  been. 


144  •   THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

It  also  seems  clear  that  the  tobacco  habit  is  a  broad  stepping- 
stone  to  the  alcohol  habit.  The  man  who  never  smokes  rarely 
ever  drinks,  and  we  have  seen  the  direct  effect  of  alcohol  on 
the  next  generation. 

Since  this  is  true,  it  is  well  to  understand  how  the  alcohol 
habit  harms  a  man  and  when  it  is  most  apt  to  fasten  itself 
upon  him,  threatening  future  generations  of  his  descendants. 
We  turn  to  this  subject  at  once. 


CHAPTER  XX 

ALCOHOL  AS  A  BEVERAGE 

Students  in  the  medical  department  of  Johns  Hopkins 
University  were  very  quiet  as  they  listened  to  what  the  doctor 
said.  He  told  them  that  Charlie  was  dangerously  ill,  that  he 
was  ten  years  old,  and  that  his  only  chance  for  life  was  to 
have  his  spleen  taken  out.  He  said  the  boy's  father  was 
dead,  that  his  mother  had  come  from  India  with  her  son, 
and  that  the  operation  would  be  sure  to  kill  him  unless,  while 
it  was  going  on,  blood  could  be  put  into  his  body  from  some 
one  else  by  transfusion,  as  it  is  called. 

The  doctor  then  asked  for  volunteers,  and  four  of  the 
medical  students  stepped  forward  at  once. 

A  sample  of  blood  was  drawn  from  each  person.  This 
was  tested,  and  the  choice  fell  on  a  healthy  young  fellow  of 
twenty-four. 

Next  day  came  the  operation.  The  surgeon  opened  an 
artery  in  the  student's  arm,  and  a  vein  in  the  arm  of  the 
small  boy.  He  then  put  the  two  openings  opposite  each  other 
and  joined  them  together.  After  that,  whenever  the  heart 
of  the  young  man  beat,  it  sent  a  strong  current  of  rich  blood 
into  the  feeble  body  of  the  small  boy.  From  being  very  pale, 
the  lad  gradually  grew  pink.  Even  his  finger  tips  changed 
color  slightly. 

The  transfer  of  blood  went  on  for  about  two  hours ;  and 
during  this  time  Charlie  received  between  one  and  two  quarts 
of  blood. 

MS 


146  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Before  the  operation  began,  the  doctor  said  there  was  but 
one  chance  in  a  thousand  that  the  boy  would  live.  After  it  was 
over,  he  said  it  was  those  quarts  of  splendid  blood  that  saved 
the  lad  —  that  the  new  blood  had  given  feeble  cells  a  new 
environment  and  made  it  possible  for  them  to  do  what  was 
necessary  to  keep  the  body  alive. 

Now  suppose  both  Charlie  and  the  student  had  been 
drinkers.1  What  about  the  outlook  then  ?  Sir  Frederick 
Treves  says :  "  Having  spent  the  greater  part  of  my  life  in 
operating,  I  can  assure  you  that  there  are  some  patients  that 
I  don't  mind  operating  on  and  some  that  I  do  ;  but  the  person 
of  all  others  that  I  dread  to  see  entering  the  operating  theater 
is  the  drinker.  He  is  a  most  dangerous  feature  in  connection 
with  the  surgical  life." 

The  fact  is  that  alcohol  gets  into  the  blood  more  easily 
than  does  any  food,  that  it  is  carried  by  the  blood  directly 
to  all  the  cells  of  the  body,  and  that  it  seriously  poisons 
every  cell  it  reaches.  It  does  this  whether  the  cell  is  part 
of  brain,  nerve,  or  muscle. 

Now  cells  reached  by  alcohol-bearing  blood  suffer  in  two 
ways :  (i)  they  are  slower  in  getting  nourishment  from  the 
blood  ;  (2)  they  are  slower  in  getting  rid  of  their  waste.  This 
is  why  the  surgeon  dreads  an  alcoholic  person.  As  a  rule,  his 
wounds  are  slower  in  healing  and  his  heart  is  not  so  reliable 
during  the  operation. 

Every  cell  is  affected,  but  no  cells  suffer  more  promptly 
than  those  in  the  brain. 

Last  summer,  on  a  steamboat  between  Seattle  and  Van- 
couver, I  myself  saw  what  happens  when  alcohol  is  in  the 
environment  of  brain  cells. 

1  The  student  had  never  used  either  alcohol  or  tobacco  ;  neither  had  his 
ancestors  for  three  generations. 


ALCOHOL  AS  A  BEVERAGE  147 

The  fellow  was  young.  He  talked  loud  and  fast,  with  a 
thick  voice.  He  said  he  knew  he  was  getting  drunk  and  that 
he  did  n't  care.  He  still  had  the  power  of  choice,  and  he 
called  for  more  drink.  He  asked  everybody  to  drink  with 
him ;  he  said  he  had  plenty  of  money  and  that  when  he 
reached  Vancouver  he  could  get  more. 

Those  of  us  who  saw  him  and  heard  him  knew  that,  even 
while  he  talked,  tainted  blood  was  washing  its  way  over  his 
most  sensitive  brain  cells.  We  knew  that  already  those  cells 
which  gave  best  aid  to  his  wit  —  those  which  controlled  his 
judgment  —  were  dulled. 

Later  the  fellow  went  off  with  his  friends.  Later  still  he 
was  staggering  across  the  deck.  His  friends  were  with  him, 
one  on  each  side  to  keep  him  steady.  They  looked  shame- 
faced as  they  held  him  up.  To  the  rest  of  us  the  sight  of  it 
all  was  exceedingly  sad  —  not  because  the  fellow  could  n't  talk 
straight,  not  because  he  staggered,  but  because  of  what  we 
knew  had  happened  to  his  brain  cells.1  We  knew  that  by  the 
power  of  his  own  hand,  by  the  choice  of  his  own  brain,  he  had 
thrown  uncounted  millions  of  these  brain  cells  out  of  service. 

Study  the  diagram  (p.  149).  It  shows  the  order  in  which 
brain  cells  always  develop  in  the  human  embryo.  First  come 
cells  that  control  the  heart,  and  last  of  all  those  that  control 
judgment  and  will  power — the  inhibitory  centers  of  the  brain, 
we  call  them.  By  this  chart  of  his  Dr.  Chappie  shows  that 
alcohol  damages  brain  cells  in  the  reverse  order  of  their 
development  —  that  cells  which  control  judgment  and  will 
power  are  cut  out  first,  those  that  control  the  heart  last. 

Now  we  understand  what  the  alcohol  habit  means,  and 
why  certain  anti-alcohol  people  were  troubled  when  they  found 
a  peculiar  little  bottle  in  the  hands  of  school  boys  in  Ohio. 

1  See  "  Control  of  Body  and  Mind,"  chap.  xxvi. 


',*  1-^iM 


••'•X 

^*  ,      »    •• 


•'     -4. 


CELLS  FROM  THE  CORTEX,  WITH  FIBERS  NOT  GIVEN 

A,  cells  from  a  healthy  brain  ;  &,  cells  from  the  brain  of  a  victim  of  alcohol.  Notice 

the  changed  shapes,  smaller  size,  and  diminished  number  of  the  cells  in  B.   Their 

altered  condition  explains  the  inefficiency  of  an  alcoholic  brain.   (After  Horsley) 


I48 


ALCOHOL  AS  A  BEVERAGE 


149 


The  bottle  itself  is  three  inches  high  and  an  inch  and  a 
quarter  across.    It  has  a  cork  stopper,  and  the  stopper  has  a 
bone  top  to  it.    A  glass  tube  goes  through  the  stopper,  down 
into  the  contents  of  the  bottle.    A 
rubber  tube  stretches  up  from  the  top 
of  the  stopper.    On  the  end  of  the 
tube  is  a  bone  mouthpiece  through 
which  the  liquid  in  the  bottle  may 
be  sucked  up. 

The  whole  combination  was  packed 
in  a  small  box  which  it  fitted  exactly, 
and  on  the  box  was  a  card  which  gave 
the  name  and  address  of  the  saloon 
from  which  it  came. 

This  bottle  had  passed  from  hand 
to  hand  and  from  mouth  to  mouth 
until  the  teacher  found  it.  At  that 
time  it  was  half  full  of  whisky.  And 
what  was  the  object  of  the  bottle 
and  its  whisky  ?  The  following  bit 
of  history  answers  the  question. 

Several  years  ago  the  State  Liquor 
Dealers  of   Ohio  were   gathered  in 
Wirthwein  Hall,  Columbus,  and  one 
of  the  speakers  had  for  his  subject 
*'  How  to  Build  up  the  Saloon  Busi- 
ness."  Among  other  things  he  said  : 
"  The  success  of  our  business  is  de- 
pendent largely  upon  the  creation  of  appetite  for  drink.  Men 
who  drink  liquor,  like  others,  will  die,  and  if  there  is  no  appe- 
tite created,  our  counters  will  be  empty,  as  will  be  our  coffers. 
Our  children  will  go  hungry,  or  we  must  change  our  business 


DIAGRAMMATIC  SCHEME 
OF  THE  ORDER  OF  DE- 
VELOPMENT    OF    BRAIN 
CENTERS 

i, heart  centers;  2, lung  cen- 
ters ;  3,  locomotion  centers ; 
4,  knowledge  centers ;  5,  in- 
hibitory centers.  (From 
W.  A.  Chappie) 


ISO 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


to  that  of  some  other  more  remunerative.  The  open  field  for 
the  creation  of  appetite  is  among  the  boys.  After  men  are 
grown  and  their  habits  formed,  they  rarely  ever  change  in  this 
regard.  It  will  be  needful,  therefore,  that  missionary  work 

be  done  among  the  boys,  and  I 
<-  make  the  suggestion,  gentlemen, 

^t  that  nickels  expended  in  treats 

jj^  to  the  boys  now  will  return  in 

dollars    to    your    tills   after   the 
appetite  has  been  formed."  l 

It  was  as  if  the  man  had 
said :  "  My  friends,  unless  we 
can  help  ruin  the  boys  by  creat- 
ing in  them  an  appetite  for  alco- 
hol, we  ourselves  must  go  out 
of  business.  We  must  destroy 
them  for  the  sake  of  our  indi- 
vidual pocket-books." 

The  man  supposed  he  was 
talking  to  liquor  dealers  alone. 
He  did  not  know  that  an  anti- 
alcohol  man  was  in  the  meeting, 
and  that  he  was  taking  down  short- 
hand notes  of  everything  said. 

From  his  own  point  of  view  the  speaking  delegate  was  quite 
right.  Unless  boys  can  be  secured,  —  unless  they  will  con- 
sent to  damage  their  own  brains,  —  the  liquor  business  of  the 
world  is  doomed.  Dr.  Alexander  Lambert  shows  this  in  a 
table  of  figures  which  he  made  out.  While  in  Bellevue  Hos- 
pital, New  York  City,  he  met  and  examined  so  many  persons 
ruined  by  alcohol  that  he  decided  to  find  out  how  old  they  were 

1  Vouched  for  by  the  Anti- Saloon  League  of  Ohio. 


A  BOTTLE  OF  WHISKY  CIRCU- 
LATED TO  "  CREATE  APPETITE" 

AMONG  THE  BOYS 
(From  the  Anti-Saloon  League) 


ALCOHOL  AS  A  BEVERAGE  151 

when  they  began  to  drink.    He  received  full  answers  from 
258  persons.    The  table  itself  tells  the  rest  of  the  story. 

AGE  WHEN  258  PERSONS  BEGAN  THE  ALCOHOL  HABIT 

Before  the  age  of  6 4  persons 

Between  the  ages  of  6  and  12        .     .  13  persons 

Between  the  ages  of  1 2  and  1 6     .     .  60  persons 

Between  the  ages  of  16  and  21      .     .  102  persons 

Between  the  ages  of  21  and  30      ..  71  persons 

After  the  age  of  30 8  persons 

By  this  table  we  see  that  69  per  cent  of  those  who  had  the 
alcohol  habit,  began  to  acquire  it  before  they  were  twenty-one 
years  old,  and  that  only  8  persons  out  of  258  began  to  use  alco- 
hol after  they  were  thirty ;  that  is,  after  they  were  fully  mature. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  if  a  boy  can  keep  free  from  the 
habit  during  the  wonderful  years  between  fourteen  and  twenty, 
he  has  a  good  chance  of  escaping  altogether. 

Those  who  sell  alcohol  are  bright  enough  to  know  this. 
They  know  that  if  they  wish  to  continue  their  own  particular 
kind  of  business,  they  must  make  sure  of  the  boys.  Their 
motto,  therefore,  seems  to  be  "  Gather  in  the  boys  and  ruin 
them."  But  certain  boys  are  long-headed  enough  to  decide 
not  to  be  gathered  in.  They  say  the  environment  of  their 
own  brain  cells  and  the  welfare  of  their  own  descendants 
mean  too  much  to  them  to  be  sacrificed  in  this  way. 

Not  individuals  alone,  but  nations  also,  are  coming  to  the 
same  conclusion.  In  1914  Secretary  Daniels  of  the  United 
States  Navy  issued  the  following  order : 

"The  use  or  introduction  for  drinking  purposes  of  alcoholic 
liquors  on  board  any  naval  vessel,  or  within  any  navy  yard  or 
station,  is  strictly  prohibited,  and  commanding  officers  will  be 
held  directly  responsible  for  the  enforcement  of  this  order." 


152  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

The  power  which  man  has  to  recognize  danger,  to  control 
his  habits,  to  decide  his  own  destiny,  and  to  guide  the  future 
of  the  race,  turns  our  thoughts  to  early  evolution  times  again, 
and  shows  how  it  has  come  to  pass  that  man  is  now  able  to 
choose  either  safety  or  damage  for  body  and  brain  alike,  and 
how  he  succeeds  in  either  strengthening  or  weakening  his  own 
character  through  the  highest  power  that  evolution  has  given 
him  —  his  brain.  The  next  chapter  dwells  on  this  point. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  CROWN  OF  EVOLUTION 

When  monsters  lived  and  ruled  the  earth,  it  was  bulk  of  bone 
and  muscle,  not  size  of  brain l  or  keenness  of  wit,  that  counted. 

The  creatures  had  eyes  and  ears  and  all  five  senses,  but 
not  one  among  the  number  carried  a  brain  so  efficient  as  the 
smallest  normal  man-brain  that  guides  the  life  of  the  smallest 
man  to-day. 

Think,  then,  of  the  change  that  has  come  about.  To-day  it 
is  brain,  not  bone  or  muscle,  that  rules  the  world.  The  ele- 
phant and  the  rhinoceros  still  live,  but  it  is  small  man  with 
his  active  brain  that  masters  them  when  he  meets  them. 

To  understand  how  this  has  come  to  pass,  recall  the  five- 
linked  chain  of  evolution,  discussed  in  Chapter  IX.  Go  back 
far  enough  in  history  and  apply  the  chain  to  the  evolution  of 
brain  in  vertebrate  animals.  Recall  the  fact  that  in  every 
family  of  every  generation  there  has  been  endless  variation. 
Also  ask  this  question  :  Other  things  being  equal,  which 
animals  have  the  better  chance  to  survive,  those  with  quick 
wit  or  those  with  slow  wit ;  those  with  an  efficient  or  those 
with  an  inefficient  brain  ? 

The  question  answers  itself.  As  a  rule,  quicker  wit  means 
better  chance  to  find  food  and  to  keep  it,  to  scent  danger  and 
to  escape  it,  to  succeed  in  competition  and  to  survive  in  the 
struggle  for  existence. 

1  For  description  of  the  human  brain  and  the  work  it  does  see  "  Control 
of  Body  and  Mind." 

153 


154 


SKELETON  OF  HORSE  AND  MAN  PLACED  FOR  COMPARISON 

Take  special  note  of  the  contrast  in  brain  capacity  of  the  two.  Also  trace  resemblances 

in  general  structure  :  leg  bones,  ribs,  and  vertebrae  that  correspond  ;  brains,  faces,  and 

feet  that  are  different  developments  from  a  common  plan.    (From  the  American 

Museum  of  Natural  History) 


155 


156  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

More  than  this,  in  the  case  of  man,  while  brain  developed, 
hand  and  fingers  developed  too,  until  at  last  the  human  ani- 
mal, man,  found  himself  the  owner  of  a  brain  able  to  plan 
great  things,  and  of  hands  able  to  carry  out  great  plans. 

Thus  man  stood  at  the  beginning  of  his  new  era,  and  it 
was  at  this  point  that  a  different  kind  of  inheritance  stepped 
in  and  helped  take  charge  of  human  affairs ;  for  after  the 
brain  was  well  developed,  each  generation  began  to  make 
improvements  of  its  own,  and  to  inherit  other  improvements 
which  previous  generations  had  made. 

To  understand  the  situation,  forget  the  present  for  a 
moment ;  sweep  away  all  thought  of  our  modern  civilization, 
all  memory  of  our  towns  and  of  our  cities,  of  our  homes,  our 
schools,  our  shops,  our  libraries,  our  banks,  and  our  churches  ; 
forget  our  waving  fields  of  corn  and  grain,  our  orchards, 
our  mines,  our  railroads,  our  steamers  crossing  the  ocean,  our 
wireless  stations  and  our  aeroplanes. 

Then  go  back  in  thought  to  our  earliest  ancestors.  They 
were  men  and  women  with  bodies,  brains,  and  hands  like  ours, 
but  nowhere  in  those  prehistoric  times  do  we  find  a  sign  of 
the  comforts  and  the  inventions  which  surround  us  to-day. 

Without  fire,  living  in  caves,  with  leaves  and  skins  for 
covering,  eating  raw  food  as  they  could  get  it,  our  remote 
ancestors  lived  and  died  in  the  midst  of  discomforts  which 
would  appall  us,  their  descendants. 

Even  language  was  but  getting  its  start.  One  by  one,  how- 
ever, new  sounds  and  new  words  were  invented  for  this  thing 
and  that,  until,  in  course  of  time,  men  and  women  were  talk- 
ing. They  could  now  counsel  with  each  other.  This  was  a 
priceless  advantage  which  could  be  passed  on  from  one  gen- 
eration to  the  next.  It  was  a  giant  stride  upward ;  not  a 
longer  one,  however,  than  was  taken  by  the  first  fire-maker. 


THE  CROWN  OF  EVOLUTION 


157 


He  had  seen  lightning  in  the  skies,  perhaps  had  even 
watched  molten  lava  as  it  boiled  and  bubbled,  perhaps  had 
struck  sparks  from  flint  stones  as  he  knocked  them  together  ; 
but  never  yet* on  the  earth  had  there  been  a  blazing  fire 
lighted  by  human 
hands,  guided  by 
the  human  brain. 

At  last,  however, 
the  discovery  came. 
Some  person  some- 
where may  have  used 
his  brains  and  his 
hands,  may  have 
rubbed  two  sticks 
together  hard  and 
fast,  as  some  primi- 
tive peoples  now  do, 
and  may  thus  have 
started  the  first  fire 
ever  kindled  by  man. 

No  one  knows  the 
date  of  that  first 
lighting  nor  the  pre- 
cise method  em- 


Courtesy  of  Mrs.  L.  H.  Gulick 

MAKING  FIRE  IN  THE  PRIMITIVE  WAY 


This  Guardian  of  the  Camp  Fire  Girls  has  secured 

a  spark  from  rubbing  sticks  together.  She  is  now 

blowing  that  spark  into  a  flame 


ployed.  All  we  know 
is  that  such  fire- 
making  was  as  truly 

the  result  of  mental  action  as  was  the  invention  of  the  steam 
engine  by  James  Watt  in  1736.  He  who  made  the  fire  dis- 
covery has  blessed  all  generations  from  that  day  to'  this,  for 
each  generation  has  inherited  the  advantage  of  the  discovery, 
and  has  passed  the  advantage  on  to  the  next  generation. 


158  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

So,  too,  when  man  found  he  could  gather  grains  from  cer- 
tain grasses,  plant  them  together  in  the  same  field,  and  raise 
wheat  and  corn  for  human  use.  This  was  another  milestone 
in  the  journey  toward  civilization  —  another  blessing  to  be 
handed  on  to  later  generations. 

One  after  the  other  also  came  the  inventions. 

Man  left  his  cave  and  built  himself  a  hut — the  beginnings 
of  architecture.  He  made  bow  and  arrow,  tools  and  traps, 
rafts  and  canoes.  And  each  separate  invention  was  the  result 
of  brain  activity.  Memory,  curiosity,  imagination,  reason, 
will  power,  choice  —  all  these  he  pressed  into  service. 

Moreover,  by  using  fingers  and  toes  as  numbers  he  began 
to  count,  and  all  our  present-day  higher  mathematics  come 
from  that  early  start.  The  decimal  system  itself  is  but  a 
reminder  of  the  ten  toes  and  the  ten  fingers  of  those  early 
ancestors. 

In  some  such  way,  through  the  ages,  discovery  and  inven- 
tion followed  each  other  up  the  road  toward  our  modern 
civilization.  Each  generation  inherited  what  had  gone  before ; 
each  made  new  inventions,  new  discoveries ;  each  in  turn 
passed  on  to  the  next  generation  what  it  had  received  and 
cared  to  keep. 

We  of  to-day  have  our  occupations  and  our  recreations, 
our  comforts  of  life,  our  requirements  and  our  luxuries,  as  a 
rolled-up  inheritance  from  past  generations  of  men,  and  no 
form  of  inheritance  is  more  valuable  to  us. 

We  see,  then,  that  in  addition  to  the  physical  inheritance 
which  each  of  us  has  received,  there  is  this  other  form  of 
influence,  this  accumulated  knowledge,  these  gathered-up  ex- 
periences, which  reach  us  as  a  social  inheritance  from  our 
ancestors,  and  which  we,  just  as  necessarily,  pass  on  to  the 
next  generation. 


THE  CROWN  OF  EVOLUTION 


159 


In  both  lines  of  inheritance  the  present  generation  picks 
up  the  threads  of  life  where  the  last  generation  stopped  its 
spinning.  The  next  generation  will  begin  where  the  present 
generation  leaves  off ;  and  from  these  threads  the  warp  and 
woof  of  human  his- 
tory is  being  woven. 

Nor  is  this  all. 
Side  by  side  with  in- 
ventions and  dis- 
coveries walked  the 
spiritual  part  of  man. 
It  lifted  him  above 
the  sordid  life  about 
him.  It  set  him  on  a 
pinnacle  high  above 
all  other  creatures. 
It  made  him  con- 
scious of  time  and 

THE  HAPSBURG  JAW,  A  FAMOUS  EXAMPLE 
OF  PHYSICAL  INHERITANCE 


space,  of  past  and 
future.  It  gave  him 
knowledge  of  right 

o'  "       young  king's  face  is  so  turned  that  the  distinction  is 

ing  of    responsibility       n°t  emphasized.    (After  Stoddard  Goodhue,  in  the 

for  other  men. 


Charles  the  Second  of  Spain  inherited  it  from  an 
Austrian  princess  in  1661.  The  present  king  of  Spain 
the  same  source.  In  this  illustration  the 


Cosmopolitan  Magazine  for  July,  1913) 


Before  man  arrived,  no  creature  had  ever  studied  the  past 
for  the  sake  of  understanding  the  future.  Man  does  this. 
He  learns  the  laws  of  development  by  studying  the  past, 
and  he  applies  these  laws  in  shaping  the  future.  Because  of 
this  he  now  walks  the  earth  with  conscious  power.  He 
knows  that  by  using  knowledge,  judgment,  and  will  power 
he  may  alter  his  own  destiny  almost  at  will.  He  also  knows 
that  by  his  personal  decisions  in  this  generation  he  may 


160  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

decide  the  fate  of  future  generations.  He  has  hopes,  ambi- 
tions, longings,  and  he  loves  his  fellow  men.  When  the  need 
comes,  he  even  dies  to  save  them.  He  throws  his  thought 
into  future  years  and  believes  in  life  beyond  the  grave. 

Besides  all  else  he  has  studied  the  laws  of  modern  life  so 
well  —  has  learned  so  much  about  health  and  the  way  to 
secure  it,  about  happiness  and  the  way  to  attain  it  —  that 
he  is  now  able  to  lengthen  human  life  or  to  shorten  it, 
to  bless  the  human  race  or  to  curse  it,  by  what  he  knows 
and  by  what  he  does  in  carrying  out  the  commands  of  his 
unhindered  will. 

There  has  been  both  advantage  and  disadvantage  in  this 
turn  of  evolution  which  gave  man  his  crown  —  his  brain. 

The  advantage  is  that  there  is  hardly  any  limit  to  what 
man  may  now  do  for  himself  and  for  his  descendants,  pro- 
vided he  has  a  normal,  healthy,  well-trained  brain,  and 
provided  it  decides  to  serve  him  according  to  its  own  best 
judgment. 

The  disadvantage  is  that  even  when  his  brain  is  not 
normal  and  healthy,  even  when  it  has  been  badly  trained 
and  is  ignorant,  even  when  its  desires  are  for  such  things 
as  will  harm  itself  hopelessly,  it  can  still  make  choices ;  it 
can  still  choose  a  road  to  its  own  destruction  and  force  the 
consequences  on  the  children  of  the  next  generation. 

We  therefore  meet  this  strange  fact  of  evolution,  that 
through  his  highest  gift,  the  brain,  man  is  now  able  to  do 
himself  and  his  descendants  more  harm  than  can  be  done  to 
themselves  by  any  other  creatures,  however  large  or  small 
their  brains  may  be 

In  point  of  fact,  from  the  beginnings  of  brain  power  until 
now,  man  has  made  decisions  both  wise  and  unwise ;  he  has 
been  guided  by  choices  both  good  and  bad. 


THE  CROWN  OF  EVOLUTION  161 

As  a  rule,  however,  best  choices  have  prevailed.  These 
have  drawn  men  ever  closer  together.  From  being  scattered 
savages,  fighting  each  other  for  life,  human  beings  have 
gradually  gathered  in  larger  and  more  friendly  groups,  until 
to-day  we  have  cities  where  thousands,  even  millions,  of 
people  live  together  and  depend  upon  each  other.1 

Moreover,  as  groups  grew  larger  during  the  ages  the  notion 
of  family  life  also  grew ;  and  now,  in  all  civilized  countries, 
the  family  is  recognized  as  the  fundamental  unit  of  society. 
To  form  it  we  have  a  man,  his  wife,  and  their  children. 

1  For  description  of  the  way  in  which  country  towns  are  turned  into 
crowded  cities,  see  the  first  three  chapters  of  "  Town  and  City." 


CHAPTER  XXII 

FAMILY  RESPONSIBILITY 

Thus  far  the  pages  of  this  book  have  made  it  plain  that 
throughout  life  there  runs  the  great  fact  of  sex,  and  that, 
because  of  sex,  life  on  the  earth  is  able  to  go  on  from  one 
generation  to  another. 

In  human  evolution,  however,  man  has  crowned  all  indi- 
vidual relations  with  the  family  relation.  He  has  made  this 
smallest  group  of  human  beings — parents  and  their  children, 
with  their  home  life  —  the  center  of  his  civilization.  With- 
out the  family  we  should  have  no  government,  no  commerce, 
no  art  of  any  sort. 

More  than  this,  the  environment  supplied  by  each  family 
in  each  home  shapes  and  changes,  for  better  or  for  worse, 
all  who  live  in  that  home. 

And  because  the  family  is  so  important  to  the  human  race, 
because  it  concerns  each  one  of  us  so  vitally,  also  because,  to 
a  large  extent,  we  individually  determine  what  kind  of  homes 
we  shall  have,  therefore  such  a  book  as  this  must  take  the 
laws  of  family  health  into  serious  account. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  any  disease  which  travels  from  per- 
son to  person  moves  surest  and  swiftest  among  the  members 
of  the  family  circle. 

When  scarlet  fever  or  smallpox,  tuberculosis,  typhoid  fever, 
whooping  cough,  diphtheria,  or  measles  breaks  out  in  any 
home,  the  members  of  the  family  itself  are  in  more  danger 
than  other  people,  because  they  live  closest  together. 

162 


FAMILY  RESPONSIBILITY  163 

And  what  are  towns  and  cities  but  groups  of  families 
crowded  together,  ever  influencing  each  other  for  better  or 
for  worse  ?  No  wonder,  then,  that  in  every  land  the  future 


Great   Grandparents 


t t_J  14 t 

fjL  jit  Grand-  fL  JL 

MT  m  parents  W  W 

/K*  Parent*  W* 


Everyman 


OUR  ANCESTORS 

Notice  how  the  ancestors  of  each  one  of  us  (that  is,  Everyman)  double  with  each 
generation  that  reaches  back  through  parents,  grandparents,  great-grandparents,  etc. 
It  is  from  this  unnumbered  host  of  ancestors  that  we  receive  both  our  physical  and 
our  social  inheritance.  An  old  Shinto  maxim  of  Japan  is  "  Let  men  know  by  your 
deeds  who  your  ancestors  were  " 

of  the  nation  depends  on  the  health  of  the  bodies  and  the 
health  of  the  minds  of  its  families. 

This  is  so  true  that,  for  nations  and  cities  as  well  as  for 
the  families  themselves,  the  motto  of  modern  life  is,"  Protect 
yourselves  and  the  next  generation  by  obeying  the  laws  of 
family  health." 


1 64  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Man  has  indeed  learned  at  last  that,  for  the  sake  of  this 
generation  and  the  next,  he  must  know  not  simply  the  laws 
of  individual  health  and  of  inheritance,  but  also  the  laws  of 
family  health. 

We  shall  soon  see  that  these  three  sets  of  laws  travel 
hand  in  hand,  and  that  ignorance  about  any  one  of  them  is 
dangerous  to  all  concerned. 

In  former  times  the  watchword  of  a  nation  was  :  "  Be  a 
patriot.  Be  ready  to  die  for  your  country." 

In  modern  times  the  command  is  :  "  Be  a  patriot.  Live 
right,  and  live  for  your  descendants."  Put  in  other  words, 
this  means :  Don't  die  needlessly.  Keep  yourself  vigorous 
and  healthy,  and  so  conduct  your  life  that  you  will  be  a 
worthy  ancestor  of  coming  generations. 

This  modern  patriotism  is  indeed  the  nobler  kind,  for  if 
it  is  held  to  and  carried  out  by  successive  generations  of  men, 
far-away  descendants  of  those  who  live  to-day  are  sure  to  be 
a  blessing  to  their  country,  whether  they  live  for  it  or  die  for  it. 

Through  a  knowledge  of  cause  and  effect  and  through 
the  choice  of  his  own  mind  and  the  power  of  his  own  will, 
a  man  may  prove  that  he  is  worthy  of  the  crown  which 
evolution  has  placed  upon  him. 

No  test  of  manhood  or  of  womanhood  is  greater  than  that 
which  has  to  do  with  the  welfare  of  family  life. 

The  following  chapters  give  facts  about  health,  and  about 
its  relation  to  inheritance,  concerning  which  no  thoughtful 
person  can  afford  to  be  ignorant. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

PROTECT  THE  STREAM  OF  LIFE 

In  the  Jotirnal  of  the  American  Medical  Association  for 
September  2,  1911,  Dr.  Schamberg  describes  what  he  calls 
"  An  Epidemic  of  Chancres  of  the  Lip  from  Kissing." 

It  appears  that  on  the  fourth  of  March,  1911,  a  group  of 
young  men  and  women  ranging  in  ages  from  sixteen  to  twenty- 
two  gave  a  minstrel  performance,  had  a  banquet  afterwards, 
and  closed  the  evening  with  what  were  called  kissing  games. 

No  one  suspected  any  danger,  for  all  were  light-hearted 
and  thoughtless.  A  certain  young  man  was  especially  attrac- 
tive and  evidently  quite  popular.  His  one  blemish,  so  far  as 
appearances  were  concerned,  seems  to  have  been  a  sore  on 
the  lip,  which  led  one  girl  to  say  that  she  let  him  kiss  her 
"  with  reluctance  and  wiped  her  own  lips  afterwards  with  a 
handkerchief."  As  it  happened,  however,  it  was  a  plague 
spot  of  the  worst  kind.  Any  man  or  woman  who  knows  about 
different  kinds  of  contagious  disease  would  choose  smallpox 
or  scarlet  fever  or  both  together  rather  than  the  disease  rep- 
resented by  the  small  sore  which  showed  itself  on  the  lip  of 
the  young  man. 

Any  intelligent  doctor  would  have  told  the  fellow  that  the 
sore  itself  was  swarming  with  contagious  microbes,  that  it 
was  not  safe  for  him  to  mingle  with  healthy  people,  and 
that  it  was  a  wrong  of  great  cruelty  for  him  to  press  that 
sore,  with  its  millions  of  microbes,  against  the  lips  of  any 
other  human  being. 

165 


166  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

The  evening  came  to  an  end,  but  the  laws  of  cause  and 
effect  did  not  go  out  of  service.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of 
March  one  of  the  girls  he  had  kissed  found  a  sore  on  the 
right  side  of  the  lower  lip,  and  it  became  as  large  as  a  pea. 
A  second  girl  discovered  her  sore  early  in  April.  In  fact,  in 
her  case  there  were  two  sores,  one  on  the  upper,  the  other 
on  the  lower  lip  —  a  double  proof  that  microbes  had  entered 
her  body  and  were  doing  damage  there.  On  the  thirteenth 
of  April  a  sixteen-year-old  girl  noticed  that  she  too  had  the 
dreaded  sore.  Six  cases  followed  each  other  through  the 
months  of  March  and  April,  and  each  victim  was  one  of 
the  number  that  had  been  kissed  by  the  young  man  at  the 
entertainment. 

Dr.  Schamberg  goes  on  to  say  that  "  this  most  unfortunate 
epidemic  should  teach  a  lesson  which  cannot  be  too  strongly 
impressed  on  the  public,  that  is,  the  danger  of  promiscuous 
kissing." 

Perhaps  some  one  may  answer :  "  But  a  little  sore  is  n't 
anything.  I  'm  not  afraid  of  sores."  No,  an  ordinary  sore  is 
nothing,  but  this  particular  kind  of  sore  is  a  signed  declara- 
tion that  the  body  has  been  invaded  by  a  foe  more  cruel  than 
death  itself,  that  the  foe  has  already  increased  its  forces 
beyond  the  power  of  human  reckoning,  that  these  forces 
have  entered  the  blood  stream,  that  the  entire  body  in  all  its 
parts  is  threatened,  and  that  even  the  children  of  the  next 
generation  are  in  danger. 

Whether  the  disease  is  passed  on  by  kissing  or  by  some 
other  contact  of  the  body,  the  microbes  always  pass  from  one 
person  to  another  under  stated  conditions  : 

1.  The  disease  must  reveal  itself  in  a  sore. 

2.  This  sore  must  come  in  contact,  either  directly  or  in- 
directly, with  a  surface  of  the  skin  through  which  there  is  an 


PROTECT  THE  STREAM  OF  LIFE  167 

opening.  A  crack,  a  scratch,  a  wound  of  one  kind  or  another, 
is  all  that  is  needed.  Into  this  opening  the  microbes  make 
their  way.  They  may  go  either  from  the  sore  itself  or  from 
something  that  has  touched  the  sore  and  become  contaminated 
by  the  microbes.  Once  in,  these  microbes  travel  about  in  the 
blood  stream  ,and  establish  themselves  in  fresh  tissues,  where 
they  multiply  fast. 

3.  A  cracked,  moist  mucous  membrane  is  an  ideal  place 
of  entrance  for  the  microbes.  -Lips,  therefore,  are  often  very 
vulnerable,  for  they  are  easily  chapped  and  parched  and 
cracked. 

When  a  cracked  mucous  membrane  comes  in  contact  with 
one  of  the  sores,  it  is  like  the  offer  of  a  new  home  to  over- 
crowded microbe  residents.  They  accept  the  offer  at  once 
and  establish  themselves  in  the  new  place  with  extraordinary 
rapidity.  Twelve  hours  after  the  first  contact  is  made,  even  a 
surgical  operation  will  not  avail  to  cut  trfem  out.  They  are 
intrenched  beyond  recall.  And  yet  —  and  here  is  the  most 
alarming  factor  in  the  case  —  no  symptom  of  the  disease,  no 
sign  of  sore,  will  show  itself  until  several  weeks  after  the 
first  contact  was  made. 

Notice  the  date  of  the  banquet,  March  fourth  ;  notice  the 
dates  scattered  along  afterwards  when  sores  made  their 
appearance.  It  is  true  that  if  the  trouble  is  discovered  at 
once,  if  it  is  reported  to  the  doctor  without  delay,  and  if 
special  treatment  is  persisted  in  for  three  or  four  years  after- 
wards, a  person  may  hope  to  be  entirely  cured.  It  is  also 
possible  that  a  remedy  which  has  recently  been  discovered 
may  cure  more  rapidly.  Nevertheless,  the  appalling  fact  re- 
mains that  the  disease  itself  is  one  of  the  most  terrible  of 
the  contagious  maladies  which  man  is  fighting,  and  unfortu- 
nately it  is  seldom  reported  when  it  first  appears. 


1 68  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

It  is  well  to  know  that  the  first  sore  always  shows  itself  on 
the  identical  spot  where  the  cracked  membrane  and  the  dis- 
eased surface  met.  No  wonder  it  is  called  "  the  mark  of  the 
devil,"  for  it  shows  just  where  the  microbes  entered. 

Once  established,  they  multiply,  and  as  they  multiply  they 
manufacture  a  poison.  This  poison  is  poured  into  the  blood 
stream,  and  wherever  the  blood  goes  after  that,  there  also 
goes  the  poison  of  the  plague. 

"  At  the  end  of  a  few  weeks,"  writes  Dr.  Forel,  "  eruptions 
appear  on  the  body  and  face,  and  then  commences  a  series 
of  disasters  the  cause  of  which  may  be  suspended  over  the 
victim  for  his  whole  life  like  the  sword  of  Damocles,  even 
when  he  believes  himself  cured,  for  the  cure  is  often  un- 
certain. This  disease  may  remain  latent  for  months  and 
years,  to  reappear  later  in  different  organs.  It  causes  ulcers 
of  the  skin  and  mucous  membranes ;  it  sometimes  causes 
decay  of  the  bones ,  it  affects  the  walls  of  the  blood  vessels, 
causing  them  to  become  hard  and  brittle ;  it  causes  diseases 
of  the  eye  (especially  of  the  iris  and  retina),  tumors  in  the 
brain,  paralysis,  etc.  In  fact,  it  spares  none  of  the  organs  of 
the  body." 

Speaking  of  this  disease,  which  is  called  syphilis,  Dr.  Morrow 
says :  "  It  plays  the  role  of  sapper  and  miner  among  diseases ; 
it  undermines  the  constitution,  weakens  the  organic  defenses, 
diminishes  the  capacity  of  resistance,  and  thus  renders  the 
system  an  easy  prey  to  other  forces  of  disease." 

Dr.  Osier  speaks  of  it  as  "  the  worm  that  dieth  not  and 
the  fire  that  is  not  quenched."  Miss  Lavinia  Dock,  who  has 
cared  for  patients  in  all  their  degrees  of  suffering,  says  that 
"  mucous  patches  may  appear  in  all  or  in  any  part  of  the 
mouth  and  gums,  tongue,  tonsils,  and  pharynx.  They  may 
also  appear  at  the  corners  of  the  lips  or  in  the  nasal  lining." 


PROTECT  THE  STREAM  OF  LIFE 


169 


Now  it  is  because  of  these  patches  in  the  mouth,. on  the 
tongue,  and  on  the  lips  —  each  one  a  center  of  infection  — 
that  people  everywhere  are  not  only  anxious  to  avoid  personal 
contact  with  those  who  are  thus  diseased,  but  are  also  getting 
rid  of  the  public  drinking  cup  which  diseased  persons  may 
have  used,  and  in 
its  place  we  now 
have  the  sanitary 
drinking  fountain. 
Here  nothing  but 
water  touches  the 
lips.  Whether  a 
person  has  scarlet 
fever,  tuberculosis, 
smallpox,  whoop- 
ing cough,  measles, 
or  mucous  patches 
on  his  lips,  no  one 
can  by  any  chance 
pass  on  his  disease 
by  means  of  a  sani- 
tary fountain.  But 
with  the  public 
drinking  cup,  how 

different !    When  you  have  the  opportunity  some  day,  watch 
one  of  these  in  a  crowded  city.     I  myself  have  done  this. 

First  came  a  healthy,  vigorous-looking  carpenter.  He 
emptied  the  cup,  seemed  to  enjoy  it,  wiped  his  mouth,  and 
went  away.  "  Quite  a  healthy  man,"  I  said  to  myself  as  he 
passed  on.  "  Probably  no  danger  from  him." 

Next  followed  two  giggling  girls.  Each  took  a  sip  and  hur- 
ried off,  still  giggling.  "  Silly,"  I  thought,  "but  not  diseased." 


MODERN  SANITARY  BUBBLE  FOUNTAIN 


I/O 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


A  newsboy  seized  the  cup  as  they  dropped  it,  and  was  gone 

with  a  rush  to  sell  his  papers.   "  Fine  boy,"  was  my  comment. 

Then  came  a  sight  that  frightened  me  —  a  man  with  every 

mark  of  disease  upon  him.    His  walk  betrayed  him  ;  his  eyes 

betrayed  him  ;  and,  worst  of  all,  he  had  visible  sores  on  his 

lips.  He  too  drank 
from  that  cup,  and 
my  frightened  query 
was, ' '  What  microbes 
have  you  left  there, 
unfortunate  man  ?  " 
Next  stepped  up 
a  woman  and  a  little 
girl.  The  child  may 
have  been  five  years 
old,  and  she  was  evi- 
dently thirsty.  I  saw 
that  her  lips  were 
slightly  parched  and 
cracked.  My  heart 
stood  still  with  fear. 
Were  the  cracked 
lips  of  the  sweet  child 
to  touch  the  cup  the 

man  had  used  ?  I  could  not  reach  her  in  time  to  warn  her. 
Then  came  relief.  I  saw  what  the  woman  'did.  She  rinsed 
the  cup  carefully,  filled  it  to  overflowing,  held  it  to  the 
child's  mouth,  and  told  her  to  suck  the 'water  up  from  the 
middle  of  the  cup,  not  to  touch  her  lips  to  its  edge. 

This  worked  well.  Some  of  the  water  was  spilled,  but  they 
both  laughed  and  went  their  way.  I  saw  that  the  lips  of  the 
child  had  touched  nothing  but  water.  She  was  safe. 


OLD-FASHIONED  DRINKING  FOUNTAIN 


PROTECT  THE  STREAM  OF  LIFE  1 71 

If  all  were  as  wise  as  this  woman,  even  public  drinking 
cups  might  be  used  ;  but  many  are  ignorant,  and  as  I  watched 
the  cup  I  knew  that  day  after  day  there  was  danger  for  the 
city  through  that  single  cup  alone.  For  over  and  over  again, 
whether  a  man  betrayed  his  condition  or  not,  there  were  sure  to 
be  many  who  used  the  cup  and  left  dangerous  microbes  on  it. 

Fortunately  for  the  race,  the  particular  microbes  discussed 
in  this  chapter  do  not  live  long  when  they  are  on  surfaces 
outside  the  body. 

It  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  and  to  act  upon  the  following  rules  : 

RULES  OF  PROTECTION 

1 .  Never  use  knife,  fork,  spoon,  cup,  or  any  other  article 
after  another  person  until  it  has  been  washed. 

2.  Never  put  into  the  mouth  pins,  pencils,  money,  whistles, 
chewing  gum,  or  any  other  article  that  may  have  been  in  the 
mouth  of  another  person. 

3.  Never  let  the  diseased  surface  of  any  diseased  person 
touch  the  delicate  membranes  of  any  part  of  your  body.  Older 
people  sometimes  kiss  children  on  the  lips.  This  should  never 
be  done.    Let  old  and  young  alike  kiss  each  other  on  the 
cheek,  not  on  the  lips,  for  the  thick,  unbroken  skin  of  the 
cheek  is  a  protection  against  the  invasion  of  microbes. 

Since  these  laws  of  prevention  are  easy  to  follow,  we  wonder 
why  cities  and  citizens  have  been  careless  so  long.  The  answer 
is  that  most  of  us  are  both  ignorant  and  thoughtless.  Few 
realize  that,  of  all  the  diseases  that  come  to  man,  this  is  the 
only  one  which  is  able  to  travel  the  road  of  direct  inheritance 
from  one  generation  to  the  next  —  the  only  microbe  disease 
which  seems  to  affect  germ  cells  themselves,  and  which  stays 
with  the  cells  as  they  multiply  and  become  a  baby. 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

When  this  occurs,  as  Dr.  Morrow  says,  "  instead  of  the 
rosy,  healthy,  well-formed  child,  there  may  survive  a  puny, 
frail  being,  feeble  in  mind  and  body,  an  object  of  disgust  and 
horror,  doomed,  if  not  to  early  death,  to  bear  through  life  the 
stigmata  of  degeneration  and  disease." 

The  baby  does  not  always  look  ill  at  birth,  however.  In- 
deed, the  signs  of  its  inherited  disease  may  not  come  until 
weeks  or  months  or  years  afterwards. 

Many  pages  of  many  books  are  crowded  with  'cases  in  which 
this  curse  has  appeared  in  the  next  generation,  but  they  are 
too  sad  to  be  recounted  here.  He  who  is  armed  against  the 
danger  is  able  to  save  himself  and  his  descendants.  His  fate 
no  less  than  their  fate  rests  with  himself. 

The  disease  studied  in  this  chapter  arose  long  ago  in  con- 
nection with  the  immoral  lives  of  men  and  women,  and  it  is 
now  largely  so  transmitted.  Indeed,  very  few  of  those  who 
live  the  immoral  life  are  free  from  one  or  the  other  of  the 
two  diseases  mentioned  in  this  and  in  the  next  chapter. 
Nevertheless,  the  fact  of  contamination  does  not  necessarily 
prove  immorality,  although  the  resulting  suffering  is  not  les- 
sened. The  only  way  to  safety  is  along  the  lines  of  protection 
already  stated. 


V  \.\V 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

PREVENTION  OF  BLINDNESS 

The  doctor  knew  that  certain  microbes  had  entered  his 
right  eye,  that  they  were  multiplying  there  with  astonishing 
rapidity,  and  that  but  one  thing  in  the  world  could  save  his 
sight.  He  was  on  the  night  boat  going  from  Boston  to  New 
York  and  had  none  of  the  needed  medicine  with  him.  Neither 
was  there  any  of  it  on  board,  and  the  boat  was  too  far  from 
port  to  put  back  to  Boston  for  it. 

The  results  were  inevitable.  When  they  reached  New  York 
the  next  day  all  hope  of  saving  the  eye  was  gone.  The  other 
eye  had  to  do  double  duty  for  the  man  ever  afterwards. 

The  doctor  knew  perfectly  well  that  this  was  a  definite  effect 
from  a  definite  cause.  He  could  point  to  the  place  and  to  the 
hour  of  the  day  when  he  had  cared  for  a  newborn  baby.  He 
knew  he  had  used  medicine  on  the  baby's  eyes,  because  they 
were  threatened  by  microbes  that  bring  blindness.  But  he  did 
not  know  how  other  microbes  of  the  same  kind,  in  the  same 
room,  could  have  entered  his  own  eyes. 

Usually  it  is  the  babies  and  ignorant  people  who  suffer,  not 
the  doctors. 

Dr.  Howard  reports  the  case  of  a  woman  whose  eyesight 
he  tried  to  save.  She  worked  in  a  hotel,  was  vigorous  and 
healthy,  with  perfect  eyesight,  and  she  had  a  daughter  five 
years  old.  In  this  hotel  the  woman  handled  towels,  linen, 
sheets,  and  all  such  things  as  are  used  by  others  —  soiled 
articles  on  which  disease  microbes  are  often  left. 

173 


1/4  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

"  One  day,"  writes  Dr.  Howard,  "  I  was  called  to  see  her, 
stretched  on  a  bed,  with  pus-swollen  eyes,  crying  from  lacer- 
ating pains,  feverish,  and  frightened.  There  was  no  pos- 
sible help  for  her  ;  it  was  too  late  ;  her  eyes  had  already  been 
destroyed.  Two  days  before  I  had  been  called  in  to  see  her, 
she  had  felt  a  little  inflammation  and,  not  having  the  slightest 
idea  what  the  trouble  was,  kept  wiping  the  pus  away  with  a 
handkerchief.  Of  course  the  child  slept  with  its  mother.  It 
is  a  simple  matter  of  unknown  detail  just  how  the  pus  was 
transferred  to  the  child's  eyes,  but  it  was,  because  on  this 
day  the  pus  was  penetrating  the  tissues,  and  the  lenses  could 
not  be  saved.  Mother  and  child  blind  for  life !  And  this 
mother,"  as  Dr.  Howard  exclaims,  "  had  been  sent  out  into 
the  world  with  a  high-school  diploma !  Educated !  Oh,  it  is 
pitiable,  pitiable ;  it  makes  the  physician's  blood  boil  to  write 
or  think  of  these  thousands  of  cases  that  could  have  been 
saved  had  our  parents,  teachers,  ministers,  done  their  duty." 

The  woman  herself  did  not  know  that  from  sheets,  towels, 
etc.  disease  microbes  might  reach  her  hands,  and  that  those 
hands  should  have  been  washed  before  they  so  much  as 
touched  her  eyes. 

Every  blind  asylum  in  every  state  and  city  bears  testimony 
to  the  power  of  this  microbe.  In  1890  there  were  over  50,000 
persons  in  the  United  States  who  were  totally  blind,  with 
about  as  many  more  who  were  partially  blind,  and  it  is  esti- 
mated that  over  one  quarter  of  the  number  were  made  blind 
because  these  gonococcus  microbes  entered  their  eyes  at  birth 
and  so  scarred  the  conjunctiva  and  the  cornea  that  light  could 
not  pass  through  to  the  retina.  In  every  such  case  the  result 
is  blindness. 

Dr.  Neisser  says  that  in  Germany  30,000  people  are 
blind  through  this  disease  alone.  It  is  also  shown  that  fully 


PREVENTION  OF  BLINDNESS 


175 


BLIND  WEAVER 
Art  Fabric  Shop,  Massachusetts  Commission  for  the  Blind 

one  quarter  of  those  who  are  blind,  in  Europe  as  well  as  in 
America,  owe  their  blindness  to  the  same  cause,  and  that,  had 
they  received  treatment  when  they  were  born,  their  sight 
would  have  been  saved. 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

"Blind  from  birth,"  we  say;  yet  in  point  of  fact  they 
were  not  blind  when  they  were  born.  They  came  into  the 
world  with  eyes  as  sound  as  yours  or  mine.  Blindness  came 
shortly  afterwards.  It  came  because,  at  birth,  the  microbes 
were  present  as  a  disease  on  the  tissues  of  the  mother.  From 
the  mother  they  found  their  way  into  the  eyes  of  the  child. 


WINDOW  HANGING 

Designed  for  the  Massachusetts  Building,  Jamestown  Exposition,  1907.  Hand-woven 
by  blind  women  in  the  Art  Fabric  Shop  of  the  Massachusetts  Commission  for  the  Blind 

Even  then  the  eyes  might  have  been  saved  if  the  right 
germicide  had  been  used. 

At  last,  however,  knowledge  about  this  disease  is  spread- 
ing so  fast  that  different  states  are  making  laws  for  the 
protection  of  the  babies. 

Connecticut,  Michigan,  Massachusetts,  Maryland,  Ohio, 
and  other  states  have  special  state  commissions  for  the 


PREVENTION  OF  BLINDNESS  177 

blind,  and  each  of  these  commissions  exists  for  the  sake  of 
doing  three  things  : 

1 .  To  educate  the  public  for  the  saving  of  sight. 

2.  To  start  and  carry  on  enterprises  that  will  give  work  to 
those  who  cannot  see  :  broom-making,  basket-making,  chair- 
caning,  weaving,  typewriting,  mattress-making  and   pillow- 
making,  upholstering,  massage,  etc. 

3.  To  provide  home  teachers  for  those  who  become  blind 
after  they  are  full-grown,  and  in  this  way  to  lighten  their 
affliction. 

The  state  commission  of  Ohio  also  gives  definite  advice 
for  the  benefit  of  every  baby  born. 

DIRECTIONS  FOR  THE  TREATMENT  OF  BABIES'  EYES 

"  As  soon  as  the  baby  is  born,  the  midwife  must  carefully 
clean  the  eyelids  with  water  that  has  been  boiled,  using  a 
separate  soft  linen  cloth  or  clean  absorbent  cotton  for  each 
eye.1  She  should  wipe  the  lids  from  the  nose  outward,  with- 
out opening  the  lids.  Then  the  eyelids  should  be  separated, 
and  tivo  drops  of  one  per  cent  solution  of  silver  nitrate  dropped 
in  each  eye.  A  dropper  must  be  used  which  is  employed  for 
no  other  purpose.  Nothing  that  is  not  perfectly  clean  should 
touch  the  baby's  eyes.  If  the  baby's  eyes  get  red,  if  a  drop 
of  matter  appears  between  the  eyelids  or  in  the  corner  of  the 
eye,  a  physician  should  be  called.  Do  not  delay  in  procuring 
treatment,  as  the  eyes  can  only  be  saved  by  applying  proper 
remedies  at  once." 

The  germicide  needed  kills  the  microbes  if  they  chance 
to  be  in  the  eyes,  while  at  the  same  time  it  does  no  harm 
to  the  eye  if  the  microbes  are  not  there.  Nevertheless,  it 

1  That  one  eye  may  not  infect  the  other. 


1/8  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

is  such  a  powerful  remedy  that  it  should  only  be  used  on 
a  doctor's  prescription. 

Warnings  from  doctors  and  scientists  are  producing  results  ; 
education  is  doing  its  work  ;  and  more  care  is  now  taken  of  the 
eyes  of  our  babies  than  ever  before  since  eyes  began  to  suffer. 

In  the  meantime,  while  knowledge  is  spreading,  let  us  not 
forget  that  microbes  which  bring  this  particular  kind  of  blind- 
ness do  not  injure  eyesight  alone.  They  destroy  eyes  for  the 
simple  reason  that  when  they  get  into  the  tender  tissues  of 
the  eye,  they  find  themselves  in  a  place  where  they  can  mul- 
tiply fast ;  and  as  they  multiply  they  work  their  way  along, 
scarring  and  destroying  tissue  as  they  go. 

Fortunately  these  microbes  make  no  impression  whatever  on 
the  thick  outside  skin  of  the  body ;  neither  do  they  enter  a 
cracked  place  in  the  skin  ;  neither  do  they  travel  in  the  blood 
stream  here  and  there.  Instead,  their  one  power  of  doing 
harm  is  after  they  have  been  lodged  on  any  delicate,  moist 
membrane.  There  they  destroy  as  fast  as  they  multiply. 

From  the  starting  point  they  spread  from  membrane  to 
membrane  of  the  organs  of  the  body,  and  as  they  travel  we 
say :  "  The  disease  is  making  headway.  The  inflammation 
is  spreading."  It  does  indeed  make  headway,  for  the  advanc- 
ing hosts  scar  all  the  tissues  within  reach,  then  move  on  to 
other  regions  for  fresh  supply.  They  move  as  a  blight  from 
one  tissue  to  any  other  which  may  be  directly  connected  with 
it,  and  wherever  they  go  the  doctor's  remark  is,  "I  find 
serious  inflammation."  He  speaks  of  inflammation  of  the 
heart,  inflammation  of  the  kidneys,  inflammation  of  the  joints, 
inflammation  of  this  part  and  that,  and  over  and  over  again 
the  cause  is  the  same  —  gonococcus  microbes  have  reached 
the  place  and  are  scarring  it. 

Dr.  Morehead  speaks  of  the  "  snakiness  "  of  the  disease.  He 


PREVENTION  OF  BLINDNESS  179 

says  it  often  lies  in  wait  for  years,  then  unexpectedly  brings 
destruction  to  a  man  or  perchance  to  his  dearest  friend. 

One  such  case  was  supposed  to  be  thoroughly  healed  ;  not 
a  sign  of  the  trouble  had  shown  itself  for  six  years.  The  man 
supposed  he  was  perfectly  well,  when,  without  warning,  he 
infected  his  own  eyes  with  those  microbes  that  bring  blind- 
ness. "  At  the  same  time  all  his  joints  became  involved,  as 
well  as  the  tendon  sheaths  of  one  foot.  The  microbes  were 
obtained  from  the  discharges  of  the  eye,  proving  the  real 
nature  of  the  infection." 

It  is  such  cases  as  these  that  led  Dr.  Wilson,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  to  answer  his  students  as  he  did. 
They  asked,  "Can  this  disease  be  cured,  and  can  a  patient 
be  sure  that  he  is  cured  ?  "  His  answer  was,  "  To  the  first 
question,  '  yes,'  and  to  the  second,  certainly,  '  no  '." 

This  disease  has  the  same  source  as  syphilis  —  immoral 
living.  It  is  not  the  same  disease,  however,  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  it  manifests  itself  in  different  ways.  We  understand, 
then,  the  need  of  prevention  through  right  living.  We  also 
understand  why  city  after  city  is  forbidding  the  use  of  the 
public  roller  towel,  and  we  are  not  surprised  that  traveling 
men  who  spend  so  much  time  in  public  places  are  learning 
to  carry  their  own  towels  with  them.  They  were  frightened 
into  this  in  one  place  by  the  true  report  that  "  at  least  three 
traveling  men  had  to  give  up  their  positions  recently  on 
account  of  infection  from  this  source." 

RULES  OF  PREVENTION 

1 .  Never  use  a  towel  or  handkerchief  that  others  have  used. 

2.  Never  put  your  fingers  to  your  eyes  unless  you  have 
just  washed  your  hands ;  use  a  clean  handkerchief  or  a  bit 
of  clean  cloth  to  wipe  out  the  corners  of  your  eyes. 


l8o  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

3.  Never  use  a  public  bathtub  until  it  has  been  washed 
out  thoroughly.    Do  not  let  the  skin  of  your  body  touch  the 
seat  in  a  public  toilet ;  cover  it  first  with  cloth  or  paper. 

4.  Never  let  the  moist  membrane  of  any  diseased  person 
touch  you.    There  may  be  death  in  the  touch. 

5.  Never  sleep  between  sheets  or  on  pillow  slips  that  have 
not  been  washed  after  being  used  by  others. 

6.  When  sleeping  away  from  home,  in  steamboat,  car,  or 
hotel,  never  let  the  blankets  touch  the  body.    These  blankets 
are  not  washed  after  each  use,  as  are  the  sheets.    Always 
keep  the  fresh  sheets  against  the  face. 

Already  society  tries  to  protect  itself  against  smallpox  and 
leprosy,  against  whooping  cough,  measles,  scarlet  fever,  tuber- 
culosis, typhoid  fever,  yellow  fever,  and  other  communicable 
diseases.  And  the  modern  movement  aims  to  save  family 
life  from  the  two  diseases  mentioned  in  the  last  chapter  and 
in  this  one.  Students  of  the  present  situation  tell  us  that  the 
prevention  of  these  two  diseases  is,  in  fact,  the  most  important 
hygienic  duty  which  faces  the  present  generation,  and  that 
the  safety  of  the  nation  rests  on  the  ability  of  the  young  to 
understand  the  danger  and  to  save  themselves  and  their 
descendants  through  the  power  of  right  living  and  through 
their  knowledge  of  facts. 

The  rules  just  given  have  to  do  with  the  risk  of  passing 
disease  from  person  to  person  through  the  power  of  disease 
microbes.  In  addition,  there  is  another  risk  which  intelligence 
and  will  power  must  control  —  a  risk  which  faces  humanity 
through  the  power  of  inheritance  and  through  the  curse  of 
feeble-mindedness. 

In  reading  the  next  chapter,  recall  Dr.  Bezzola's  statistics 
about  alcohol,  germ  cells,  and  feeble-mindedness  as  given  in 
Chapter  XVII. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

SAFETY  FROM  FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 

For  the  sake  of  studying  the  matter  of  feeble-mindedness 
at  first  hand,  Dr.  David  Starr  Jordan  visited  the  Valley  of 
Aosta,  Italy,  four  times  —  in  1881,  1883,  1900,  and  1910. 

After  the  first  visit  he  wrote  :  "  Cretins  l  were  seen  on  the 
streets  everywhere  and  on  the  roads  which  lead  to  Aosta. 
Everywhere  were  these  feeble  little  people,  with  silly  faces 
and  sickening  smiles,  incapable  of  taking  care  of  themselves, 
and  all  disfigured  by  the  goiter  at  the  neck.  Not  every  person 
with  the  goiter  is  an  idiot,  but  every  idiot  has  the  goiter."  .  .  . 
"  In  fair  weather  the  roads  about  the  city  are  lined  with  these 
awful  human  beings  —  human  beings  with  less  intelligence 
than  the  goose,  with  less  decency  than  the  pig.  The  asylum 
for  cretins  in  Aosta  is  a  veritable  chamber  of  horrors."  2 

In  his  book,  Dr.  Jordan  emphasizes  the  following  facts 
about  cretinism  : 

1 .  It  is  found  nowhere  save  in  mountainous  districts. 

2.  It  is  connected  with  disease  of  the  thyroid  gland,  as 
also  is  goiter.    No  person  with  healthy  thyroid  glands  ever 
has  goiter  or  is  ever  a  cretin. 

3.  It  may  be  passed  on  from  ancestor  to  descendant,  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  of  inheritance. 

Now  it  was  because  certain  inhabitants  of  Aosta  appreciated 
the  point  about  inheritance  that  the  tide  turned  at  last  and 

1  See  "  The  Heredity  of  Richard  Roe,"  by  David  Starr  Jordan. 

2  A  cretin  is  a  special  kind  of  idiot,  found  chiefly  in  the  Alps  and  having 
special  bodily  deformities. 

181 


1 82  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

cretins  began  to  slip  out  of  sight  at  Aosta.  Dr.  Jordan  dis- 
covered this  fact  in  1910.  He  had  gone  to  the  place  expect- 
ing to  find  conditions  about  as  they  were  when  he  was  there 
before.  But,  "to  my  surprise,"  he  says,  "  I  was  unable  for 
some  time  to  find  a  single  cretin  or  even  anybody  who  knew 
the  meaning  of  the  word." 

By  asking  questions,  however,  he  soon  learned  that,  about 
twenty  years  before,  Aosta  had  put  all  its  old  poor  people 
into  asylums.  It  also  appeared  that  gradually  all  the  cretins 
had  been  put  there  too  —  the  men  in  one  part  of  the  estab- 
lishment, the  women  in  the  other.  The  two  groups  were 
kept  absolutely  separate  —  no  mixing  and  mating  ever  being 
allowed.  As  a  result,  in  no  case  was  there  any  second  gen- 
eration. Those  cretins  and  goitrous  persons  had  no  descend- 
ants to  inherit  their  woe.  They  were  the  last  of  their  kind. 
So  true  was  this  that,  as  Dr.  Jordan  writes,  "there  is  but  one 
cretin  left  —  an  old  woman  four  feet  high,  who  has  the  in- 
telligence and,  for  that  matter,  the  manners  of  a  lap  dog,  very 
affectionate  but  without  any  mental  capacity."  He  goes  on 
to  say  that  he  visited  the  orphan  asylum  of  Aosta  and  found 
"  every  child  bright  and  alert,  without  a  touch  of  goiter  or  of 
cretinism  "  ;  that  he  "  inspected  beggars  standing  in  rows  at 
the  railway  station,  weak,  inconsequential,  useless,  most  of 
them,  but  not  a  cretin  among  them."  The  truth  of  course  re- 
mains, that  if  healthy  people  live  in  conditions  which  bring 
disease  to  the  thyroid  gland,  they  will  suffer  accordingly  ;  but 
this  is  a  different  matter  from  beginning  life  as  an  idiot  who 
is  a  cretin. 

But  to  come  nearer  home.  Turn  from  cretins  in  Italy  and 
Switzerland  to  the  feeble-minded  in  other  lands.  Dr.  Hurty  did 
this  one  day  in  Indiana.  He  was  visiting  an  institution  which 
admits  only  those  who  have  feeble  brains  of  one  sort  or  another. 


SAFETY  FROM  FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS          183 

As  he  sat  in  the  gallery  with  the  superintendent,  he 
"  watched  the  inmates  solemnly  walk  through  square  dances." 
Writing  about  it  afterwards,  he  said  :  "A  young  man  at  the 
piano  attracted  my  attention  on  account  of  his  firm  touch 
and  excellent  execution.  '  He  is  an  inmate,'  said  the  superin- 
tendent. *  He  can  play  the  music  of  the  great  composers  quite 
well  and  has  composed  several  good  waltzes.  He  is  a  graduate 
of  one  of  our  minor  colleges,  yet  he  is  an  imbecile  and  surfers 
from  emotional  insanity.  A  strong  attendant  sits  by  his  side, 
ever  watchful  to  restrain  him.'  '  What  is  his  heredity  ? '  I 
asked.  '  That  is  the  point,'  answered  the  superintendent.  '  His 
mother  is  feeble-minded,  and  his  father  died  in  the  Central 
Insane  Hospital.  He  had  a  sister  in  the  idiot  asylum.' " 
Then  Dr.  Hurty  adds  :  "  Defective  people  curse  the  day 
they  were  born,  and  this  man  curses  his  parents.  Almost 
every  man  you  find  with  an  hereditary  infirmity  curses  the 
day  of  his  birth." 

In  the  United  States  alone  we  have  150,000  feeble-minded 
persons.  Some  have  intelligence  enough  to  know  they  are 
blighted,  to  know  whence  the  blight  comes,  and  to  fling  out 
hatred  and  curses  against  their  ancestors  who  doomed  them. 
These  are  called  the  feeble-minded.  They  have  some  intelli- 
gence, some  ability  to  think  and  to  reason.  But  below  them 
in  mental  rank,  unable  either  to  think  or  to  reason,  unable  so 
much  as  to  curse  their  fate  and  their  ancestors,  are  the  hopeless 
ranks  of  imbeciles  and  idiots. 

Feeble-mindedness,  imbecility,  and  idiocy  —  these  are  the 
descending  grades,  although,  in  speaking,  people  do  not  always 
keep  them  apart.  And  between  the  grades  there  is  every 
shade  ot  mental  weakness. 

In  Vineland,  New  Jersey,  400  defective  persons  are 
gathered  in  what  is  called  "a  great  human  laboratory." 


1 84  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Their  ages  run  all  the  way  from  five  to  sixty  years.  Bodies 
young  and  bodies  old  are  there,  bodies  large  and  bodies 
small,  bodies  strong  and  bodies  weak.  But  among  the 
entire  400  not  a  single  brain  is  either  keen  enough  or 
strong  enough  or  mature  enough  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  everyday  life.  Each  is  so  far  below  the  normal  human 
standard  that  it  cannot  be  trusted  to  care  for  the  body  to 
which  it  belongs — incurably  weak-minded,  every  one  of  them. 

These  people  are  divided  into  groups,  each  group  with  its 
caretaker.  They  are  lodged  in  twenty-five  different  buildings. 
A  schoolhouse  is  here,  a  merry-go-round  there  ;  barns  in  this 
place,  broad  fields  under  cultivation  yonder ;  shops  and  a 
zoological  garden,  groves,  and  playgrounds  —  everything  is 
provided  for  the  comfort  of  these  400  mentally  weak  chil- 
dren. Moreover,  each  is  trained  to  do  something  for  the 
welfare  of  the  institution  itself.  Some  can  do  more,  some  less, 
according  to  the  different  grades  of  feeble-mindedness.  And 
it  is  with  these  defective  people  that  scientists  are  just  now 
doing  some  of  their  most  notable  work. 

Years  ago,  as  they  looked  into  the  dull  and  stupid  faces  of 
feeble-minded  people,  they  began  to  ask,  "  Has  this  dull 
child  any  dull  ancestors  ?  "  And  merely  to  ask  the  question 
was  enough.  Over  and  over  again  the  prompt  answer  came 
back,  "  Yes  indeed,  this  dull  child  has  several  dull  ancestors." 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  modern  movement.  Since 
that  time  family  records  have  been  made  out  in  the  shape  of 
charts.  Facts  about  parents,  grandparents,  and  great-grand- 
parents have  been  put  in  proper  order ;  brothers,  sisters, 
uncles,  cousins,  and  aunts  have  supplied  other  facts ;  and 
from  the  midst  of  these  ancestors  and  descendants  the  old 
story  of  cause  and  effect  has  been  told  again  and  again.  In 
each  family,  ancestors  who  were  feeble-minded  or  alcoholic  or 


SAFETY  FROM  FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS          185 

diseased  through  immorality  have  seemed  to  raise  their  heads 
and  say  :  "  Here  we  are.  We  had  tainted  blood.  We  passed 
our  curse  on." 

Study  these  charts.  They  were  made  up  from  records  kept 
in  the  Vineland  institution.  Some  of  them  carry  the  family 
line  back  from  son  to  father  for  five  generations,  while  each 


•  •• 


INHERITANCE  OF  FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 

Squares  represent  males  ;  circles,  females.  Black  means  feeble-minded ;  white  with 
N  in  it  means  normal;  without  N  it  means  no  data.  When  striated  they  indicate 
some  condition  worthy  of  note.  A  added  means  alcoholic;  T  means  tuberculous. 
The  hand  points  to  the  individual  whose  ancestry  is  studied.  In  this  case  notice  that 
both  parents  were  feeble-minded  and  that  the  man  had  three  feeble-minded  brothers 
and  one  feeble-minded  sister.  Notice  also  that  the  grandfather  on  the  father's  side 
was  feeble-minded.  (From  "  Heredity  as  a  Factor  in  the  Problem  of  the  Feeble- 
minded Child,"  by  H.  H.  Goddard) 

one  shows  what  fathers  and  mothers  and  grandparents  have 
done  for  their  descendants.  Surely  no  disaster  is  greater  than 
that  of  being  the  descendant  of  feeble-minded  ancestors.1 

1  Dr.  Ellis  says  :  "  Feeble-mindedness  is  an  absolute  dead  weight  on  the 
race ;  it  is  an  evil  that  is  unmitigated.  The  unquestionable  fact  that  in  all 
degrees  it  is  highly  inheritable  renders  it  a  deteriorating  poison  to  the 
race ;  it  depreciates  the  whole  quality  of  a  people."  Also,  "  it  is  useless 
to  work  for  the  coming  of  a  better  race  if  we  impose  upon  it  the  task  of 
breaking  the  fetters  its  fathers  have  forged." 


1 86  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Dr.  Goddard  proves  this  in  his  history  of  the  Kallikak 
family.1  Here  we  find  two  distinct  kinds  of  mental  inheri- 
tance. They  run  side  by  side  from  generation  to  generation 
for  one  hundred  fifty  years.  And,  strange  to  say,  the  same 
man  stands  at  the  head  of  both  lines.  He  was  a  healthy  young 
soldier  who  fought  in  the  American  Revolution. 


•••• 


V 


d          Illegitimate          Cr  mm 

Sent  to  Almshouse 


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®iDii44A4444^(*) 
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ALCOHOL  AND  FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 

Locate  the  alcoholic  man.    Notice  that  his  wife  was  feeble-minded,  that  she  was  the 

daughter  of  feeble-minded  parents,  that  she  had  six  feeble-minded  sons  and  five 

brothers  and  sisters  who  were  feeble-minded.    (From  "  Heredity  as  a  Factor  in  the 

Problem  of  the  Feeble-minded  Child,"  by  H.  H.  Goddard) 

Before  the  fighting  began,  he  had  one  son.  But,  sad  to 
say,  the  boy's  mother  was  feeble-minded.  So  also  was  the 
boy  himself.  He  inherited  the  calamity  from  his  mother. 
Still  he  grew  to  manhood,  was  married,  became  the  ancestor 
of  children  and  of  children's  children,  until,  up  to  the  present 
time,  that  feeble-minded  son  of  the  feeble-minded  mother  has 

1  Out  of  kindness  to  the  living  members  of  the  family,  the  true  name  is 
not  given.  Kallikak  is  a  name  made  up  for  the  occasion.  It  is  believed  that 
no  other  human  beings  are  known  by  the  same  combination  of  letters. 


SAFETY  FROM  FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS          187 

had  altogether  480  descendants.  Of  these,  47  grew  up  to  be 
normal,  healthy  people,  while  143  have  been  or  now  are  feeble- 
minded. Facts  are  lacking  about  the  rest  of  the  descendants. 

This  is  the  established  record  of  one  line  of  the  Kallikak 
family.  It  brings  out  the  fact  that  a  feeble-minded  mother 
may  stamp  successive  generations  of  human  beings  with  the 
misfortune  of  her  own  mental  likeness. 

The  second  line  of  inheritance  in  the  same  Kallikak  family 
shows  an  entirely  different  record.  And  here  again  the  expla- 
nation lies  with  the  mother  who,  with  the  selfsame  father, 
stands  at  the  head  of  her  line. 

It  seems  that  after  the  war  was  over,  the  soldier  married 
a  healthy,  clear-headed  woman  of  stock  as  fine  as  his  own. 
They  had  children  and  children's  children,  until  the  total 
number  of  their  descendants  has  now  increased  to  496. 

Among  these  none  have  been  feeble-minded.  All  have 
been  normal,  vigorous,  worth-while  people,  honored  and 
beloved  and  useful  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

In  view  of  this  double  record  it  is  easy  to  believe  the 
statement  that  feeble-mindedness  stands  in  line  with  every- 
thing else  that  is  inherited.  We  are  now  told  that  if  feeble- 
minded people  become  parents,  their  affliction  may  reach 
their  own  descendants  in  remote  generations.  In -an  average 
number  of  cases  the  inheritance  will  move  along  as  follows  : 

1.  If  both  parents  are  feeble-minded,  all  the  children  will 
be  feeble-minded.    This  law  never  fails  to  work  itself  out. 

2.  If  both  parents  are  normal,  and  if  neither  of  them  has 
had  any  feeble-minded  ancestors,   all  the  children  will  be 
normal,  and  not  one   of  them  will  be  able  to  pass  feeble- 
mindedness on  to  the  next  generation. 

3.  If  one  of  the  parents  is  feeble-minded  and  the  other  is 
normal  with  no  feeble-minded  ancestor,  their  children  may 


1 88  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

not  be  feeble-minded,  but  they  will  be  able  to  pass  feeble- 
mindedness on  to  their  descendants.1 

In  Vineland  these  facts  of  inheritance  guide  the  men  and 
women  who  are  in  charge.  The  result  is  that  the  feeble-minded 
persons  of  the  place  are  kept  as  separate  as  are  the  cretins 
of  Aosta.  Elsewhere  in  the  world  they  are  not  always  sepa- 
rated. Often  they  receive  some  training  and  then  are  sent 
out  into  the  world  to  shift  for  themselves. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  danger  threatens  the  next  genera- 
tion, for  these  half-trained,  feeble-minded  people  are  feeble- 
minded still.  As  such  they  are  able  to  pass  their  affliction 
on  to  later  generations.  This  must  be  prevented. 

If  the  Vineland  plan  were  carried  out  everywhere,  and  if 
alcohol  and  germ  diseases  were  not  allowed  to  work  havoc 
with  germ  cells,  feeble-minded  people  would  soon  be  as  un- 
known in  the  United  States  and  elsewhere  as  are  the  cretins 
in  Aosta. 

This  is  the  gospel  of  prevention  which  modern  science 
preaches. 

As  we  know,  however,  we  cannot  altogether  separate  phys- 
ical inheritance  from  the  power  of  environment.  The  two 
have  joined  hands,  and  they  travel  together.  Together  also 
they  help  or  harm  both  the  body  and  the  brain. 

The  next  chapter  gives  a  bit  of  history  about  the  effect  of 
environment  on  the  physical  well-being  of  generations  of 
children. 

1  In  the  Kallikak  family  the  feeble-minded  mother  was  responsible  for 
all  those  feeble-minded  descendants  ;  but,  since  she  was  feeble-minded,  and 
therefore  irresponsible,  the  weight  of  the  responsibility  rests  with  the  father, 
who  chose  her  as  the  mother  of  his  first-born  son. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

OVERWORK   FOR  CHILDREN  ONE  HUNDRED 
YEARS  AGO  AND   NOW 

In  England  one  hundred  years  ago  certain  groups  of 
children  were  living  under  appalling  conditions.  Cotton  mills 
had  been  established,  and  the  small  fingers  of  little  children 
were  large  enough  to  move  this  rod  here,  that  rod  there ;  to 
tie  broken  threads ;  to  attend  to  the  looms  and  the  flying 
shuttles.  They  could  indeed  do  part  of  the  work  quite  as 
well  as  older  people  with  stiffer  fingers.  So  the  children 
were  in  the  mills,  not  because  they  liked  it,  not  because  their 
parents  wished  it,  but  because  there  was  so  little  money  in  the 
family  that  even  the  youngest  member  of  it  had  to  earn  what 
he  could.  Hunger  and  misery  had  joined  hands.  They  had 
forced  the  children  into  the  factories  and  the  mills. 

The  ages  of  these  children  ranged  from  five  to  fifteen  years, 
and  even  in  the  best  of  the  places  the  youngest  workers 
were  kept  busy  from  six  in  the  morning  until  seven  at  night. 
They  were  supposed  to  do  their  studying  (if  they  did  any)  in 
the  evening  after  working  hours  were  over.  No  one  gave 
attention  to  the  fact  that  minds  cannot  work  when  bodies 
are  overtired. 

But  this  was  not  the  worst.  There  were  still  pauper  chil- 
dren from  the  workhouse.  Mill  owners  wished  all  the  cheap 
service  they  could  get.  At  the  same  time  the  managers  of 
the  poorhouse  were  only  too  glad  to  rid  themselves  of  depend- 
ent children,  regardless  of  consequences.  So  it  came  about 

189 


190  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

that  when  mill  owners  needed  more  helpers,  they  went  to 
the  poorhouse  for  them.  And  when  the  order  came,  the 
caretakers  of  the  place  packed  the  children  into  wagons  or 
canal  boats  and  sent  them  off  to  be  inspected.  Having 
arrived,  these  children  were  put  into  cellars,  —  dark,  damp, 
unwholesome,  —  and  there  the  mill  men  came  with  lighted 
lanterns  to  examine  them.  Height,  weight,  size,  and  shape 
were  taken  into  account,  "  and  the  bargain  was  struck."  It 
was  really  a  purchase  of  children  by  the  wagon  load  from 
their  poorhouse  guardians.  Very  little  money  was  paid  for 
these  loads  of  small  workers,  but  at  least,  henceforth,  the 
poorhouse  itself  would  not  have  to  support  them.  As  for 
wages,  they  received  none  whatever.  They  worked  "  sixteen 
hours  at  a  stretch  by  day  and  by  night.  They  slept  by  turns 
and  relays  in  beds  that  were  never  allowed  to  cool,  one  set 
being  sent  to  bed  as  soon  as  the  others  had  gone  to 
their  toil." 

Robert  Blincoe  describes  his  own  experiences.  He  says 
he  was  sent  to  the  place  when  he  was  seven  years  old,  and 
that  children  and  pigs  shared  the  same  food,  the  pigs  being 
fed  first,  because  they  grunted  so  loud  that  they  had  to  be 
quieted.  When  fattening  time  came  for  the  pigs,  they  received 
"  meat  balls  and  dumplings  "  with  their  other  food.  The 
children  never  had  any  fattening  time.  They  were  always 
hungry,  and  they  wanted  dumplings,  too.  To  get  them  they 
"  used  to  slip  away  and  slyly  steal  as  many  as  possible,  has- 
tening away  with  them  to  a  hiding  place  where  they  were 
eagerly  devoured." 

But  it  seems  the  pigs  learned  to  keep  "  a  sharp  lookout, 
and  the  moment  they  ascertained  the  approach  of  the  half- 
famished  children,  they  set  up  so  loud  a  chorus  of  snorts  and 
grunts  that  it  was  heard  in  the  kitchen,  when  out  rushed  the 


OVERWORK  FOR  CHILDREN  191 

swineherd  armed  with  a  whip."  Children  were  scattered, 
pigs  were  protected,  and  the  contest  came  to  an  end. 

No  wonder  those  children  tried  to  run  away.  "  To  pre- 
vent this,  all  who  were  suspected  of  such  a  tendency  had 
irons  riveted  on  their  ankles  with  long  links  reaching  up  to 
the  hips.  In  these  chains  they  were  compelled  to  work  and 
sleep,  young  women  and  girls  as  well  as  boys."  1  Although 
this  cruelty  was  carried  on  under  cover,  as  it  were,  still  facts 
leaked  out  by  degrees.  People  began  to  get  excited  and  to 
demand  that  something  be  done  to  save  the  children.  One 
by  one,  earnest  men  and  women  took  the  matter  up.  They 
said  children  must  not  "  be  used  up  as  the  cheapest  raw 
material  in  the  market." 

In  1799  and  1800,  as  if  to  help  the  movement  along,  there 
came  a  sweeping  epidemic.  It  traveled  from  factory  to  fac- 
tory in  Manchester  and  throughout  the  regions  about  the 
city.  Everywhere  it  was  the  children  who  suffered  most  and 
died  in  largest  numbers.  Doctors  looked  for  causes  and  said 
that  "  overwork,  scant  and  poor  food,  wretched  clothing, 
bad  ventilation,  and  overcrowding,  especially  among  the 
children,"  explained  it  all. 

The  result  of  the  agitation  was  that  eT  en  the  British  gov- 
ernment bestirred  itself.  It  passed  a  last-that  these  children 
should  not  work  ever  twelve  hours  a  day,  an:l  that  they  should 
be  clothed  and  sent  to  school  and  also  have  religious  teaching. 

After  this,  conditions  were  somewhat  better ;  nevertheless, 
from  then  until  now;  in  every  country,  certain  groups  of  chil- 
dren have  been  overworked,  underfed,  and  wretchedly  housed. 
Take  for  example  what  is  happening  even  in  America,  and 
even  in  the  twentieth  century. 

1  For  full  description  see  "  The  Bitter  Cry  of  the  Children,"  by 
John  Spargo.  - 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

In  1912  Mr.  Claxton  wrote  :  "  I  have  seen  children  under 
ten  years  of  age  working  their  lives  away  in  the  mills.  Their 
pale  faces  haunt  me  still.  I  saw  little  boys  eight  years  old 
drinking  black  coffee  at  midnight  to  keep  awake  until  the 
end  of  their  shift  at  four  or  five  o'clock  the  next  morning. 
Then  they  went  out  of  the  hot,  steaming,  noisy  mill  into  the 


BOYS  OF  FOURTEEN  WORKING  IN  THE  BREAKER  OF  A  PENNSYLVANIA 
COAL  MINE 

They  work  in  this  position  for  nine  hours  a  day,  at  an  average  wage  of  $4.50  a  week. 

Their  work  is  to  pick  out  pieces  of  slate  and  stone  from  the  coal  as  it  moves  through 

a  chute  over  which  they  sit.    (From  H.  M.  Todd) 

cold  air  of  the  morning  to  their  homes,  probably  for  a  little 
fitful  sleep  and  a  joyless  day,  only  to  come  back  at  night  and 
grind  again  through  the  long  dark  hours." 

Mrs.  Florence  Kelley  describes  the  work  of  small  boys 
"  in  the  greatest  canning  factory  in  this  country,  just  out. of 
Chicago."  They  sit  for  "  fourteen  hours  a  day  on  a  shelf  in 
mid-air,  every  boy  crooking  his  back  and  compressing  his 


OVERWORK  FOR  CHILDREN  193 

lungs  "  because  "  the  bright  eyes  of  these  boys  .must  see  any 
defect  in  the  lids  of  tomato  cans  and  milk  cans  coming  down 
in  a  procession."  She  says  "  they  were  constantly  cutting  them- 
selves, crippling  their  hands,  and  cutting  off  the  tops  of  their 
fingers  in  this  work,  because  they  had  to  seize  these  sharp- 
edged  things  and  take  them  out  of  the  procession  of  cans  if 
there  was  any  defect  in  the  lid.  At  the  end  of  the  fourteen 
hours  of  crouching  on  this  wretched  shelf  the  boys  were  so 
tired  that  they  often  could  not  drag  themselves  home,  but 
slept  in  the  fields  near  by  and  went  back  to  their  work  the 
next  day  without  ever  having  gone  home,  because  they  were 
too  weary  at  the  end  of  the  work." 

Mr.  Potter  says  that  in  another  place  he  himself  "  has  seen 
children  five,  six,  and  seven  years  old  working  as  laborers  in 
American  canneries  fourteen  hours  a  day."  His  investigators 
have  also  reported  45  children  under  twelve  in  one  place,  50 
in  another  ("including  many  small  tots  hardly  able  to  walk"), 
20  in  another,  working  from  eleven  in  the  morning  to  half 
past  ten  at  night,  etc. 

And  child  labor  is  not  confined  to  the  canneries.  There  are 
thousands  of  child  workers  who  spend  twelve  and  more  hours 
a  day  in  crowded  city  tenements  making  artificial  flowers  and 
willow  plumes  and  tips  to  shoe  strings.  Others  work  in  glass 
factories,  coal  mines,  silk  mills,  cotton  mills,  cigarette  factories, 
and  similar  places  "where  each  day's  labor  exhausts  them.1 

Just  now,  in  the  United  States,  there  are  about  two  million 
of  these  workers  under  sixteen  years  of  age.  They  work  while 
other  children  sleep  and  play.  They  do  not  know  what  it  is 
to  feel  well  rested,  well  fed,  and  joyous.  And  what  about  the 
children  afterwards  ?  people  are  asking.  Does  overwork  do 
any  real  harm  ? 

1  Even  now  laws  are  being  made  which  will  prevent  all  this. 


194 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


Miss  Goldmark  says  that  between  1830  and  1840  there 
was  such  a  change  in  the  appearance  of  factory  people  who 

had  been  overworking  in 
England  for  two  generations 
that  eyewitnesses  were  horri- 
fied.1 They  saw  "a  race  of 
pale,  stunted,  and  emaciated 
creatures,  irregular  in  their 
lives  and  dissolute  in  their 
habits  "  —  a  race  "  whose 
only  hope  seems  to  be  that 
the  race  will  die  out  in  two 
or  three  generations." 

Dr.  Ellis  speaks  of  the 
London  weavers  and  draws 
our  attention  to  a  medical 
report  which  states  that 
"  though  not  originally  a 
large  race,  it  formerly  con- 
tained healthy  and  well-made 
men."  But,  as  the  report 
gives  it,  "  the  whole  race  of 
them  is  rapidly  descending 
to  the  size  of  Lilliputians  ; 
you  could  not  raise  a  grena- 
dier company  amongst  them . ' ' 
To  a  country  that  wishes  to 
be  ready  for  war  at  any  time 
this  decrease  in  size  is  a 
serious  matter.  And  the  same  working  and  living  conditions 
are  producing  the  same  result  in  other  European  countries. 

1  See  "  Fatigue  and  Efficiency,"  by  Josephine  Goldmark. 


SEVEN-YEAR-OLD  GULF-COAST 
WORKER 

She   "shucks   oysters"   for  twenty-five 
cents  a  day 


OVERWORK  FOR  CHILDREN  195 

Miss  Goldmark  quotes  from  the  report  of  a  military  ex- 
amining physician  in  Germany  on  a  certain  factory  district  in 
1891.  "In  the  factory  villages,  where  every  one  works  from 
youth  up  in  the  factories,  almost  all  recruits  were  unfit  for 
service,  and  I  believe  that,  if  this  goes  on,  it  will  be  useless  to 
send  recruiting  commissions  to  these  communities." 

In  the  United  States  evil  conditions  have  not  existed  long 
enough  in  any  one  place  to  prove  much.  In  all  lands,  how- 
ever, nations  are  beginning  to  act  on  the  general  belief  that 
overworked  and  underfed  children  grow  up  to  be  inferior 
men  and  women,  and  that  inferior  men  and  women  make 
inferior  ancestors.  The  next  chapter  will  show  that  steps 
toward  race  improvement  began  to  be  taken  over  a  hundred 
years  ago. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

THREE  STEPS  IN  RACE  IMPROVEMENT 
CLEANLINESS 

Try  to  understand  why  the  children  were  overworked  and 
what  their  home  surroundings  were. 

Machinery  had  been  invented  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century ;  manufactures  had  increased ;  factories 
were  built.  It  began  to  look  as  if  great  prosperity  were  at 
hand.  Men,  women,  and  children  who  formerly  lived  in  the 
country  came  to  town  to  get  work  in  the  factories.  Here  they 
were  crowded  together  in  small  houses  on  narrow  streets.  In 
these  places  neither  parents  nor  children  knew  what  was 
meant  by  clean  streets,  clean  air,  clean  houses,  clean  water, 
or  clean  food. 

Naturally,  therefore,  the  masses  of  the  people  lived  in  the 
midst  of  what  we  should  call  unspeakable  surroundings.  One 
such  place  was  Bethnal  Green,  England.  A  report  of  con- 
ditions there  was  printed  in  1848,  and  on  the  basis  of  this 
report  Dr.  Ellis  tells  us  that  "  many  of  the  houses  were  huts, 
summerhouses,  and  sheds,  never  intended  for  use  as  houses  "; 
that  "  there  were  thirty-three  miles  of  streets  and  at  least  one 
hundred  miles  of  byways,"  but  that  "  only  a  few  miles  were 
sewered "  ;  that  "  dust  bins  were  unknown,  slops  thrown 
from  the  windows,"  and  that  "the  streets  were  the  common 
reservoirs  for  refuse  of  all  kinds,  sometimes  accumulated  in 
mountainous  and  evil-smelling  heaps." 

He  also  says  that  "  the  task  of  scavenging  Bethnal  Green, 

196 


THREE  STEPS  IN  RACE  IMPROVEMENT       197 

with  its  hundred  and  thirty-three  miles  of  dwellings,  was 
intrusted  to  thirteen  decrepit  old  men,"  and  that  it  took  these 
men  about  three  months  to  go  over  the  ground  each  time. 

Since  disease  microbes  had  not  been  discovered  in  those 
days,  and  since  prevention  was  unknown,  it  is  not  strange  that 
the  people  in  Bethnal  Green  were  attacked  by  these  disease 
microbes  and  swept  away  by  devastating  epidemics.  Ignorance 
explained  it  all ;  yet  ignorance  does  not  weaken  the  power  of 
the  microbe  nor  interfere  with  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect. 

At  last,  knowledge  about  the  need  of  cleanliness  took  the 
place  of  ignorance.  Cities  began  to  clean  up.  They  paved 
their  streets,  cleared  the  rubbish  away,  built  sewers,  tried  to 
get  clean  water,  thought  about  getting  clean  air,  and,  in  one 
way  and  another,  took  what  was  really  the  first  step  *  in  the 
modern  movement  toward  race  improvement. 

Nowadays  this  step  has  become  a  giant  stride.  London, 
New  York,  Chicago,  Boston,  and  all  other  large  cities  are 
doing  more  or  less  in  pulling  down  old  tenements  and  putting 
up  new  ones  that  can  be  kept  clean.  They  widen  their  streets 
and  keep  them  not  only  swept  but  washed.  For  the  sake  of 
health  and  cleanliness  some  of  them  filter  their  drinking 
water,  others  bring  it  from  distant  lakes  in  the  mountains. 
At  the  same  time  each  city  demands  clean  food  as  well  as 
clean  air,  clean  citizens  as  well  as  clean  houses.  Cleanliness 
has  indeed  become  a  modern  health  motto,  although  from 
the  looks  of  some  of  our  cities  it  is  hard  to  believe  this. 

PROTECTION  BY  LAW 

But  even  from  the  start  those  who  strove  for  race  improve- 
ment saw  that  cleanliness  could  not  do  everything.  They  saw 

1  Dr.  Ellis  writes  of  these  steps  in  his  book  "  The  Problem  of  Race- 
Regeneration." 


198  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

that  factory  managers  and  mill  owners  still  overworked  and 
underpaid  their  fellow  human  beings,  and  they  concluded 
that  nothing  could  loosen  the  grasp  of  greed  and  of  cruelty 
but  laws  stern  enough  to  force  mercy  from  the  merciless. 
This,  then,  was  the  second  step  in  race  improvement. 

Promptly  a  new  order  began.  One  law  after  another  was 
passed,  until  now,  in  every  civilized  land,  these  laws  grow 
more  important  every  year.  They  decide  how  many  hours 
each  day  one  man  may  work  for  another,  what  protection  he 
must  have  against  dangerous  machinery,  what  shall  be  paid 
in  case  of  accident,  how  many  holidays  he  must  be  granted, 
etc.  Other  laws  in  different  places  control  the  age  at  which 
children  may  begin  to  work  by  the  day,  the  hours  of  their 
work,  the  amount  of  their  wages,  the  kind  of  occupations 
they  may  or  may  not  go  into,  their  education  while  at  work, 
and  so  on. 

RIGHT  ENVIRONMENT  FOR  THE  CHILDREN 

Each  state  is  passing  such  laws  every  year,  but  even  while 
the  earliest  ones  were  being  enforced,  those  who  watched 
results  saw  that  laws  against  overwork  were  not  enough  — 
that  for  the  sake  of  real  race  improvement  children  must  be 
supplied  with  right  surroundings  of  every  kind  from  the  time 
they  are  born  until  they  are  grown.  This  was  the  third  step. 

It  was  precisely  in  this  connection  that  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  in  1911,  took  a  great  step  toward  serving 
the  children  better.  It  then  established  what  is  known  as  the 
Children's  Bureau.  This  bureau  proposes  to  crush  the  forces 
that  are  ready  to  crush  the  children.  In  order  to  do  this  it 
intends  to  look  up  present  conditions  and  report  them  to  the 
public,  to  educate  the  same  public,  and  to  enforce  more  laws. 


THREE  STEPS  IN  RACE  IMPROVEMENT       199 


And  it  is  time  all  this  was  done.  For  years  thoughtful  people 
have  noticed  that,  as  a  rule,  children  are  good  or  bad,  that 
they  live  or  die,  according  to  conditions  about  them  —  that 
they  are  cursed  or  blessed  by  their  environment.1 

Dr.  Ellis  says  that  seventy  years  ago,  out  of  every  thousand 
babies  born  in  such  cities  as  Manchester  and  Leeds,  England, 
six  hundred  died  before  they  were  five  years  old.  Their  en- 
vironment helped  them  to  die.  Dr.  Ashby  says  :  "  In  healthy 
children,  among  the  well-to-do  class,  the  mortality  from  measles 
is  practically  nil ;  in  the  tubercular  and  wasted  children  to  be 
found  in  workhouses,  hospitals,  and  among  the  lower  classes, 
the  mortality  is  enormous,  no  disease  being  attended  with 
more  fatal  results."  Dr.  Spargo  gives  a  table  of  figures  to 
show  what  effect  environment  has  on  the  death-rate  of  babies. 

TABLE  SHOWING  INFANTILE  MORTALITY  FROM  ELEVEN  GIVEN 
CAUSES,  AND  THE  ESTIMATED  INFLUENCE  OF  POVERTY  THEREON 


DISEASE 

NUMBER  OF  DEATHS 
UNDER  FIVE  YEARS 

ESTIMATED  NUMBER  OF  DEATHS 
DUE  TO  BAD  CONDITIONS 

Measles      

8,461; 

7,iqc 

Inanition        .... 

10,678 

0,618 

Convulsions  

14,288 

10,000 

Consumption     .... 
Pneumonia 

4454 

77  2o6 

2,648 

14,  ?4O 

Bronchitis      

IO,9OO 

c,4Co 

Croup 

10  807 

4,QOO 

Debility  and  atrophy 
Cholera  infantum  .    .    . 
Diarrhea    .         .... 

12,130 

25'563 
7,062 

9»397 
11,502 

1,782 

Cholera  morbus     .    .    . 

3,180 

i  .43* 

141,723 

78,463 

1  Deep  poverty  is  one  of  the  worst  of  environments,  because  it  is  so 
inclusive  in  the  harm  it  does. 


200  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Make  no  effort  to  remember  the  figures  in  the  two  columns ; 
they  are  merely  an  estimate.  They  do  not  claim  to  be  exact, 
but  they  do  point  a  great  truth.  They  draw  attention  to  the 
fact  that  when  young  children  are  surrounded  by  evil  condi- 
tions, — by  deep  poverty  and  by  the  kind  of  environment  which 
goes  with  such  poverty,  — they  die  of  diseases  from  which  they 
should  have  recovered. 

In  1892  almost  1000  babies  and  children  under  the  age 
of  five  died  in  Rochester,  New  York.  At  that  time  babies 
and  grown  folks  too  used  whatever  milk  was  brought  to  them 
by  the  dealers,  for  in  those  days  no  special  attention  was  paid 
either  to  the  quality  of  the  milk  or  to  its  cleanness. 

In  1904,  however,  there  was  a  different  death  rate  for  the 
babies.  Instead  of  1000,  only  500  died  that  year;  and  yet 
since  1892  the  population  of  the  city  had  increased  by 
30,000  people.  The  explanation  was  at  hand.  It  rested  with 
the  milk  supply.  Somewhere  between  1892  and  1904  the 
Health  Department  of  Rochester  decided  that  the  babies  of 
Rochester  should  have  clean  milk  for  their  everyday  diet. 
Thereafter  they  had  it,  and  everybody  acknowledged  that  clean 
milk  did  more  than  any  other  one  thing  to  cut  the  death  rate 
in  two.  They  said  that  no  part  of  the  environment  is  more 
important  for  babies  than  nourishment.1 

Students  of  living  conditions  are  saying  more  and  more 
positively  that,  for  the  good  of  the  race,  every  kind  of  environ- 
ment for  the  children  must  be  properly  looked  after.  They 
are  also  saying  that  even  environment  will  not  do  everything. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  they  have  taken  their  final  step  in 
race  improvement,  to  the  study  of  which  we  now  turn. 

1  For  full  description  of  the  clean-milk  crusade  in  Rochester  see  "  Town 
and  City,"  chap.  xx. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

THE  FINAL  STEP,  OR  RACE  REGENERATION 

In  1910  the  state  of  Ohio  had  a  population  of  about 
4,700,000,  and  at  the  same  time  it  was  supporting  at  public 
expense  an  army  of  22,000  defective  persons.  Insane,  feeble- 
minded, epileptic,  deaf  and  dumb  and  blind,  criminal,  imma- 
ture, those  ruined  by  alcohol  —  all  these  were  counted  in. 

In  1908  the  English  Royal  Commission  estimated  that 
there  were  about  1 50,000  notably  defective  persons  in  Eng- 
land and  Wales.  Now  neither  Great  Britain  nor  Ohio  is 
counted  as  in  worse  condition  than  other  places.  They  sim- 
ply point  the  fact  that  to-day  every  civilized  state  and  country 
in  the  world  is  supporting  handicapped  people.  More  serious 
yet,  statistics  prove  that  the  number  of  these  handicapped 
persons  is  increasing  by  leaps  and  bounds  each  year.  This 
last  fact  proves  two  points  : 

1 .  We  are  kind  to  the  present  generation,  and  we  show  it 
by  taking  good  care  of  those  who  are  defective  among  us. 

2.  We  are  outrageously  unkind  and  carelessly  cruel  to  the 
next  generation,  because,  in  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
cases,  we  let  the  defects  of  one  generation  go  on  to  the  next 
by  means  of  inheritance. 

In  view  of  this  condition  many  of  those  who  love  their 
fellow  men  are  now  saying  that  every  inheritable  curse  should 
die  with  the  man  or  the  woman  who  has  it.  They  say  that, 
in  addition  to  the  three  steps  given  in  the  last  chapter,  a  final 


202  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

step  must  be  taken.  It  is  stated  as  a  command.  It  is  the 
fourth  great  step  in  the  race-improvement  series.  Protect  the 
children  before  they  are  born. 

PROTECTION  OF  CHILDREN  BEFORE  BIRTH 

This  step  leads  humanity  into  a  new  road,  and  the  road 
itself  leads  to  race  regeneration. 

Heretofore  men  and  women  have  traveled  the  only  road 
they  knew.  They  have  lived  and  multiplied  and  passed  on  the 
stream  of  life  in  ignorance  of  conditions  affecting  the  welfare 
of  their  descendants.  By  the  laws  of  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence and  the  survival  of  the  fit,  the  most  unfit  died  in  child- 
hood. The  rest  lived  to  become  ancestors.  As  a  result,  until 
lately  each  generation  contained  about  the  same  proportion 
of  healthy  and  efficient  people. 

This  course  of  events  continued  for  many  ages.  But  a 
change  came.  Machines  were  invented.  Men  and  women 
trooped  in  from  the  country  to  the  factories  and  the  mills  of 
the  cities.  There  they  were  overworked  and  underfed.  For 
generations  children  and  their  children's  children  did  the 
same  kind  of  work,  lived  in  the  same  deadly  environment, 
endured  the  same  cruelties.  And  each  generation  had  less 
vigor  than  the  generation  that  went  before.  Because  their 
ancestors  had  become  inferior,  whole  villages  suffered. 

Among  these  people  disease  microbes  now  made  havoc. 
They  killed  thousands  who  should  have  been  vigorous  enough 
to  escape.  And,  worst  of  all,  no  one  knew  either  the  cause 
of  the  death  rate  or  the  means  of  its  prevention. 

When  matters  were  at  this  point,  in  1865,  while  Pasteur 
studied  silkworms  in  France,  he  discovered  microscopic 
creatures  that  carried  disease  from  worm  to  worm.1 

1  For  full  description  see  "  Town  and  City,"  chap.  xxi. 


THE  FINAL  STEP,  OR  RACE  REGENERATION     203 

Since  his  time  other  men  have  not  only  discovered  other 
disease  microbes,  but  have  shown  us  how  to  escape  them, 
and  it  is  this  set  of  microbe  discoveries  that  has  brought 
us  at  last  to  the  parting  of  the  ways. 

In  studying  records  of  the  past  we  find  that  during  recent 
years  there  has  been  an  enormous  increase  in  the  numbers 
of  feeble-minded,  insane,  epileptic,  criminal,  deaf  and  dumb 
and  blind,  and  those  ruined  by  alcohol,  by  overwork,  and  by 
unyielding  chronic  disease. 

When  we  ask  for  an  explanation  of  this,  and  when  we 
study  statistics,  we  see  that  because  we  have  kind  hearts,  and 
because,  in  these  days,  we  know  how  to  save  people  from 
disease  microbes,  we  have  for  years,  innocently  enough, 
been  helping  on  the  misfortunes  of  the  race.  In  the  struggle 
for  existence  we  who  are  the  fit  have  spent  time  and  strength 
and  money  in  keeping  the  unfit  alive.  We  have  lengthened 
the  lives  of  our  degenerates  and  maintained  them  in  comfort.1 
This  we  should  have  done.  At  the  same  time,  however,  we 
have  allowed  these  same  degenerate  people  to  become  ances- 
tors of  others  like  themselves.  This  we  should  not  have  done. 
To-day  our  asylums,  our  prisons,  and  our  hospitals  are  caring 
for  multitudes  of  defective  descendants  of  those  who  should 
have  been  as  carefully  guarded  as  were  the  cretins  of  Aosta. 

It  is  this  situation  which  compels  us  to  study  the  old  road 
as  we  have  just  been  doing,  and  helps  us  to  understand  why 
we  must  travel  the  new  road  —  a  road  dedicated  not  alone  to 
this  generation  but  also  to  the  next  generation. 

Common  sense  tells  us  that  if  we  step  across  from  the  old 
road  to  the  new,  —  that  is,  if,  from  now  on,  we  heed  the 

1  Dr.  Morrow  has  said  that  during  the  past  twenty  years  "  the  life  of  the 
insane  has  been  increased  eight  years,  while  that  of  the  general  population 
has  been  increased  but  four  and  a  half  years."  He  says  "  this  is  doubtless 
true  of  other  defectives." 


204  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

command  of  reason  and  protect  children  before  they  are 
born,  —  we  shall  be  able  to  change  the  entire  outlook  for  the 
race  within  two  or  three  generations. 

If  we  succeed  in  doing  this,  those  who  live  in  the  future 
will  have  the  chance  to  be  as  surprised  as  Dr.  Jordan  was 
when  he  went  to  Aosta.  They  will  read  about  the  defectives 
of  the  twentieth  century,  will  look  hither  and  thither  for  their 
descendants,  and  when  they  ask  what  has  become  of  them, 
answer  will  be  made,  "  They  have  ceased  to  be ;  practical 
application  of  the  laws  of  race  regeneration  saved  them." 

If  now  we  ask  what  race  regeneration  really  means,  we  shall 
be  told  that  children  have  the  right  to  be  well  born,  and  that 
men  and  women  who  are  so  defective  as  to  be  unfit  must  not 
be  allowed  to  become  ancestors.  And  this  is  the  meaning  of 
race  regeneration. 

It  is  a  matter  of  securing  better  descendants  by  taking  the 
laws  of  inheritance  into  account.  It  is  an  obligation  which 
commands  each  generation  to  pass  on  to  future  generations 
the  best  it  has  received,  and  to  let  its  worst  inheritance  die 
with  itself. 

The  history  of  the  human  race  does  indeed  make  it  plain 
that  a  worthy  line  of  ancestors  is  more  to  be  desired  than 
gold  or  lands  or  worldly  position  of  any  sort.  It  proves  that 
right  parentage  is  the  noblest  gift  which  one  generation 
may  offer  to  another. 

Each  of  us  carries  his  own  ancestral  standard  through  life. 
Each  received  this  standard  from  men  and  women  who  are 
ranged  back  of  us  in  endless  rows.  If  the  standard  was  high 
when  it  came  to  us,  let  us  pass  it  on  just  as  high  to  those  who 
are  to  come  after.  If  it  tottered  when  we  received  it,  let  us 
so  conduct  our  lives  that  it  may  be  straightened  up  a  little  and 
be  carried  higher  rather  than  lower  by  the  next  generation. 


QUESTIONS 

CHAPTER  I 

Give  three  reasons  why  a  careful  breeder  is  willing  to  pay  high 
for  his  animals.  Describe  what  a  scientist  might  do  if  he  knew 
certain  definite  facts  about  the  ancestors  of  your  neighbors.  Mention 
some  of  the  labels  which  he  might  nail  to  the  doors.  When  was 
Jonathan  Edwards  born  ?  What  were  his  noted  characteristics  ?  In 
1900  how  many  of  his  descendants  had  been  located?  Mention 
the  occupations  of  some  of  them.  Taken  as  a  whole,  what  influence 
has  the  family  of  Jonathan  Edwards  had  upon  the  world  ?  What 
was  the  occupation  of  the  first-recorded  ancestor  of  the  Jukes  family  ? 
When  and  where  was  he  born?  What  was  his  character?  How 
many  descendants  have  been  traced  ?  Mention  some  of  their  occu- 
pations. Who  were  obliged  to  support  those  members  of  the  family 
who  spent  their  time  in  prison  and  in  the  workhouse  ?  How  much 
has  the  Jukes  family  already  cost  the  people  of  New  York  state  ? 
In  what  two  ways  are  people  cursed  from  birth  ?  What  does  the 
chart  show  ?  In  the  United  States  what  was  the  increase  in  popu- 
lation between  1800  and  1900?  What  difference  will  it  make  in 
the  outcome  of  things  whether  one  kind  of  family  or  the  other  kind 
multiplies  faster  on  the  earth  ? 

CHAPTER  II 

Mention  two  distinct  kinds  of  pure-bred  Andalusian  fowls.  When 
a  black  and  a  white  Andalusian  fowl  were  chosen  to  be  ancestors 
of  the  next  generation,  what  was  the  question  about  their  descend- 
ants ?  What  was  the  color  of  the  chicks  ?  Did  it  make  any  difference 
which  parent  was  black,  which  white  ?  Were  the  children  hybrid  or 
pure-bred  ?  When  both  parents  are  pure-bred  of  the  same  kind, 
will  their  children  be  hybrid  or  pure-bred  ?  Explain  the  illustration 

205 


206  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

which  shows  color  inheritance.  Tell  which  individuals  in  the  illus- 
tration are  pure-bred,  which  hybrid.  If  we  know  the  color  of 
Andalusian  fowls,  what  can  we  always  tell  about  their  descendants  ? 

CHAPTER  III 

During  the  years  from  1900  to  1905  what  small  animals  were 
receiving  special  study  in  the  Zoological  Laboratory  of  Harvard 
University  ?  Why  did  Professor  Castle  keep  them  in  this  labora- 
tory ?  Why  did  he  do  his  main  work  with  guinea  pigs  ?  In  the  case 
of  small  animals  why  is  it  easy  to  trace  resemblances  between  far- 
away ancestors  and  present-day  descendants  ?  How  many  genera- 
tions do  guinea  pigs  have  each  year  ?  Why  does  this  give  guinea 
pigs  an  advantage  as  helpers  in  answering  questions  about  inher- 
itance ?  Describe  the  guinea  pig  —  its  size,  color,  coat,  etc.  What 
did  Dr.  Castle  learn  about  the  way  these  characters  are  handed 
on  from  ancestor  to  descendant  ?  Are  the  laws  of  inheritance  the 
same  with  guinea  pigs  as  with  Andalusian  fowls  ?  At  first  sight,  do 
they  seem  to  be  the  same  or  different?  When  black  guinea  pigs 
were  mated  with  albino  white,  what  was  the  color  of  their  children  ? 
How  do  we  know  that  all  the  black  guinea-pig  children  were  hybrid 
and  not  pure-bred  ?  Why  were  these  hybrids  black  and  not  blue  ? 
Describe  the  illustration.  What  do  we  mean  when  we  say  that 
black  is  dominant  and  white  recessive  ?  Which  color  is  dominant 
with  Andalusian  fowls  ?  Besides  color,  what  other  characters  move 
along  by  definite  laws  ?  With  guinea  pigs,  which  is  dominant,  rough 
coat  or  smooth  coat  ?  long  hair  or  short  hair  ?  By  knowing  the  laws, 
how  can  one  secure  the  desired  kinds  of  descendants  ?  Why  are 
human  beings  interested  in  the  laws  of  life  ?  In  what  way  is  each 
person  a  bundle  of  combined  characters  ?  What  did  Dr.  Forel  dis- 
cover about  his  own  face  ?  How  does  he  explain  the  children  of 
many  a  distinguished  man  ? 

CHAPTER  IV 

Who  was  Mendel  ?  What  did  he  do  in  the  gardens  of  the  cloister 
at  Briinn  ?  How  many  different  kinds  of  peas  did  he  raise  ?  For 
what  was  he  searching  ?  Mention  some  of  the  characters  which  he 


QUESTIONS  207 

studied  in  pairs.  What  did  he  do  about  keeping  the  pollen  of 
different  plants  separate  ?  Why  was  he  so  careful  ?  Which  char- 
acters were  dominant  ?  Which  were  recessive  ?  Was  every  character 
either  dominant  or  recessive  ?  For  how  many  years  did  Mendel 
carry  on  his  investigations  ?  When  did  he  write  his  important 
papers  ?  What  did  these  papers  tell  ?  What  effect  did  the  reading 
of  his  papers  have  on  his  audience  ?  What  happened  to  the  papers 
afterwards  ?  How  long  did  they  stay  in  the  Briinn  library  ?  When 
did  Mendel  die  ?  What  was  he  heard  to  say  many  times  before  he 
died  ?  What  happened  sixteen  years  after  his  death  ?  What  do 
modern  scientists  think  about  Mendel  and  his  work  ?  Which  books 
take  Mendel  and  his  laws  into  account  ?  In  what  way  has  his  name 
stamped  the  whole  subject  of  inheritance  ?  State  three  of  Mendel's 
laws  as  given.  Compare  these  laws  with  those  given  in  the  two  pre- 
vious chapters.  How  did  Mendel  discover  his  laws  ?  Do  they  apply 
best  to  animals  or  to  plants  ? 

CHAPTER  V 

In  1900  what  did  the  National  Association  of  British  and  Irish 
Millers  decide  to  do  ?  Who  was  chosen  chief  investigator  ?  Mention 
some  of  the  qualities  of  the  different  kinds  of  wheat  he  used. 
Describe  Professor  Biffen's  work  with  these  varieties.  What  success 
did  he  have  ?  Describe  the  two  fields  of  corn  that  grew  side  by 
side.  What  was  it  that  made  the  difference  in  the  yield  of  the  two 
fields  ?  What  has  Mr.  Burbank  done  in  corn  raising  ?  What  about 
the  value  of  his  potatoes  ?  Mention  other  vegetables  and  fruit  that 
have  been  improved  by  using  the  laws  of  inheritance.  What  is  the 
boll  weevil  ?  How  does  it  damage  the  cotton  crop  ?  What  has  been 
done  to  save  the  cotton  from  this  weevil  ?  Describe  the  difference 
between  the  amaryllis  of  former  times  and  the  new  one  produced 
by  Mr.  Burbank.  Describe  his  work  with  the  poppy.  How  large 
a  poppy  blossom  has  he  secured  ?  What  can  he  do  with  poppy-seed 
capsules  ?  How  did  he  change  the  daisy  ?  What  has  he  done  to  the 
thorn-covered  cactus  ?  What  have  breeders  done  in  changing  sheep  ? 
For  what  is  the  Jersey  cow  famous  ?  Mention  other  kinds  of  cattle 
and  the  special  quality  for  which  they  are  bred.  What  does  all  this 
show  about  the  modern  evolution  of  plants  and  animals  ? 


208  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

CHAPTER  VI 

Where  are  horses  found  ?  What  can  be  said  about  their  resem- 
blance and  relation  to  each  other  ?  What  is  a  fossil  (see  footnote)  ? 
In  what  special  museum  in  New  York  City  do  we  find  large  num- 
bers of  fossil  bones  ?  How  are  the  horse  bones  grouped  in  the 
museum  ?  So  far  as  size  is  concerned,  how  do  they  progress  ? 
Speak  of  the  difference  between  the  largest  horse  skeleton  and  the 
smallest.  If  these  were  alive  to-day,  would  they  treat  each  other 
as  friends  or  as  strangers  ?  What  remarkable  fact  do  the  graded 
horse  bones  prove  ?  How  long  did  the  small  horse  live  before  the 
large  one?  During  that  time,  what  changes  took  place  in  legs 
and  jaw  and  skull  bones  ?  Describe  the  foot  as  it  changed  into 
a  hoof.  What  part  of  the  middle  toe  finally  became  the  hoof? 
What  became  of  the  other  toes  ?  What  sign  of  toe  is  there  on 
the  legs  of  a  modern  horse  ?  Where  are  these  splint  bones?  While 
the  toe  bones  were  changing,  what  happened  to  the  jaw  bones 
and  the  teeth  of  the  horse  ?  What  explains  the  gap  between  the 
front  teeth  and  the  back  teeth  of  a  modern  horse  ?  When  the 
smallest  and  earliest  horse  bones  first  came  to  light,  what  name 
was  given  to  the  little  creature  ?  Where  have  many  fossil  horse 
bones  been  found  ?  What  connections  have  been  traced  ?  How 
many  sets  of  scientists  are  needed  to  explain  buried  bones  ?  What 
does  the  geologist  do  ?  What  does  the  paleontologist  do  ?  What  do 
we  learn  from  fossil  bones  ? 

Which  set  of  bones  gives  the  most  straight-ahead,  complete  his- 
tory of  the  animal  ?  In  what  countries  have  fossil  horse  bones  been 
found  ?  Where  does  this  best  series  come  from  ?  If  a  horse  could 
think  and  talk,  what  might  he  say  about  his  ancestors  ? 

CHAPTER  VII 

Where  did  Darwin  keep  his  angleworms  ?  What  did  he  know 
about  their  different  senses  ?  What  questions  did  he  ask  himself 
about  them  ?  Why  are  angleworms  studied  at  night  ?  Describe 
their  actions  as  Darwin  saw  them.  When  did  Darwin's  interest  in 
angleworms  begin  ?  What  does  Darwin  say  about  the  matter  ? 


QUESTIONS  209 

What  are  the  two  parts  of  the  work  of  Darwin's  life  ?  How  old 
was  he  when  he  began  his  shell  collection  ?  Describe  his  experience 
in  collecting  beetles  in  Cambridge.  How  old  was  he  when  he  went 
to  South  America  ?  What  was  his  position  on  the  Beagle  ?  Describe 
the  Beagle  (see  footnote).  How  long  was  Darwin  away  from 
England  ?  What  fossil  discoveries  did  he  make  in  South  America  ? 
What  difference  was  there  between  the  size  of  the  fossil  bones  and 
the  size  of  the  living  creatures  which  Darwin  found  in  South 
America?  What  is  the  general  contrast  in  size  between  animals 
now  living  in  South  America  and  those  in  Africa  ?  How  do  we  know 
that  South  American  animals  were  once  as  large  as  those  now  alive 
in  Africa?  What  does  history  tell  us  about  the  horse  in  America 
when  Columbus  arrived?  How  do  we  know  that  horses  were 
among  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  America  ?  What  is  proved  by  fossil 
remains  found  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  America  ?  What  theory  explains 
the  fact  that  animals  of  the  same  kind  were  living  during  the  same 
era  in  all  three  continents ;  that  is,  how  did  they  travel  from  con- 
tinent to  continent  ?  In  his  study  of  animals  and  fossils,  for  what 
was  Darwin  constantly  searching?  Why  did  he  gather  facts  so 
persistently  ? 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Give  the  location  of  the  Galapagos  Islands.  Describe  the  tortoise 
which  Darwin  found  there.  Describe  the  lizards.  Of  what  kinds 
of  animals  did  he  find  new  species  ?  Define  species  (see  footnote). 
Where  had  Darwin  seen  other  creatures  of  which  these  reminded 
him  ?  What  question  did  Darwin  ask  himself  about  these  new  spe- 
cies ?  When  did  the  Beagle  return  to  England  ?  WThat  collections 
did  Darwin  now  have  in  hand  ?  By  the  use  of  his  collections  what 
laws  did  he  wish  to  find  ?  What  were  some  of  the  questions  which  he 
asked  himself  about  both  the  earlier  and  the  later  kinds  of  animals  ? 
In  order  to  get  more  facts,  what  birds  did  he  study,  comparing  them 
with  each  other  ?  Describe  some  of  the  different  kinds  of  pigeons. 
After  studying  each  kind,  what  conclusion  did  Darwin  come  to  ? 
What  is  the  common  opinion  of  naturalists  about  pigeon  ancestors  ? 
What  did  every  intelligent  bird  breeder  assure  him  ?  How  long  did 
one  breeder  say  it  would  take  to  produce  any  given  feather  ?  How 


210  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

long  for  head  and  neck  ?  What  does  Darwin  say  about  the  work 
of  sheep  breeders  in  Saxony  ?  What  does  Lord  Sommerville  say 
about  the  success  of  the  breeders  ?  Even  before  Mendel  and  Darwin 
lived,  what  two  facts  did  breeders  know  about  the  relation  of  an- 
cestors to  descendants  ?  When  Darwin  saw  how  man  gets  results 
by  controlling  ancestors,  what  did  he  wish  to  know  about  wild  ani- 
mals ?  What  did  he  ask  himself  about  other  laws  ?  How  long 
did  Darwin  study  this  problem  ?  What  is  the  name  of  the  book  in 
which  he  tried  to  answer  it  ?  When  was  the  book  published  ? 
Describe  the  way  it  was  received  and  the  excitement  it  produced. 
Of  those  who  read  the  book,  who  were  most  inclined  to  accept 
Darwin's  theory  ?  When  did  Darwin  die  ? 

CHAPTER  IX 

Describe  what  you  yourself  have  seen  in  springtime,  or  else 
give  the  description  in  the  first  paragraph.  How  many  elm  seeds 
were  there  in  one  small  heap  ?  How  many  maple  seeds  in  another  ? 
How  many  seeds  with  their  parachutes  were  counted  on  one  dan- 
delion stalk  ?  What  is  the  condition  of  the  woods  in  springtime  ? 
What  can  you  say  of  the  fate  of  fish  eggs  in  every  breeding  spot  ? 
What  proportion  survive  long  enough  to  become  fish  and  to  pass 
life  on  to  the  next  generation?  What  does  Dr.  Thompson  say 
about  the  multiplication  of  the  cod  ?  So  far  as  the  ocean  is  con- 
cerned, what  would  be  the  result?  Give  Dr.  Thompson's  figures 
about  the  oyster.  What  is  the  first  law  of  Darwin's  five-linked 
chain  ?  When  there  is  such  prodigality  on  every  side,  when  all 
must  find  food  or  die,  what  kind  of  competition  follows?  Give 
Darwin's  second  great  law.  Even  though  it  looks  like  a  peaceful 
world,  give  some  facts  about  the  struggle  for  food  and  for  existence 
that  goes  on  constantly.  If  all  eggs  were  allowed  to  hatch  and  if  all 
young  animals  lived  to  old  age,  what  would  the  result  be  ?  Mention 
some  of  the  checks  to  the  prodigality  of  nature.  In  the  struggle 
for  existence,  which  plants  and  animals  have  the  poorest  chance 
to  live  and  become  ancestors  ?  What  did  Darwin  notice  about  the 
size  and  strength  of  different  animals  in  the  same  species  ?  What  is 
the  third  law  in.  Darwin's  chain  ?  Show  how  this  law  worked  when 


QUESTIONS  211 

rain  was  withheld  in  South  America.  Speak  of  the  birds  in  snow- 
covered  Ohio  one  winter.  Why  did  some  live  and  others  die  ?  What 
happened  in  Plymouth,  Pennsylvania,  in  1885  ?  Describe  the  result 
of  the  yellow-fever  tests  in  Cuba  in  1900.  What  did  Darwin  say 
is  sure  to  follow  because  of  the  law  of  variation  ?  Which  creatures 
will  survive  ?  Give  the  fourth  law  in  the  linked  chain.  Show  how 
this  law  works  itself  out.  What  about  long  legs  ?  strong  claws  ? 
keen  eyesight  ?  What  about  power  to  go  without  water  and  to 
survive  famine  ?  How  do  we  know  that  those  who  are  best  fitted  to 
survive  are  not  always  the  largest,  tallest,  strongest,  etc.  ?  Give  an 
illustration  from  the  huge  animals  of  South  America.  What  about 
the  English  sparrow  ?  Which  birds  best  survive  a  storm  ?  How  can 
you  explain  the  ears  of  the  mole  ?  Give  the  final,  supreme  law  of 
Darwin's  chain.  What  did  Darwin  believe  about  the  ancestors  of  all 
the  wild  animals  that  live  to-day  ;  that  is,  how  did  he  think  they  were 
selected  ?  Apply  the  five-linked  chain  to  last-year's  codfish.  Men- 
tion some  of  the  points  on  which  all  scientists  agree.  Which  of 
Darwin's  statements  do  scientists  accept  with  one  accord  ?  What 
did  Darwin  show  about  creative  power? 

CHAPTER  X 

Describe  the  gill-slits  of  a  fish  (see  footnote).  Why  does  a  fish 
swim  with  its  mouth  open  ?  If  it  should  keep  its  mouth  shut,  what 
would  result  ?  How  does  a  fish  get  its  needed  supply  of  oxygen  ? 
Why  does  a  fish  die  when  it  is  drawn  from  the  water  ?  Why  do  we 
die  when  we  are  held  under  water  ?  In  which  embryos  did  scientists 
expect  to  find  gill-slits  ?  In  which  embryo  do  they  always  find  gill- 
slits  ?  What  is  an  embryo  ?  Mention  the  different  kinds  of  creatures 
that  have  gill-slits  when  they  are  in  the  embryo  stage.  When  ani- 
mals are  to  live  out  of  water  after  birth,  what  additional  apparatus 
does  the  embryo  have  ?  Mention  the  rudiments  of  different  animals. 
What  is  a  rudiment  ?  How  did  Darwin  explain  a  rudiment  ?  De- 
scribe the  sacculina.  How  long  does  a  sacculina  live  ?  Give  Darwin's 
three  statements  about  rudiments.  When  we  find  teeth  in  the 
upper  jaw  of  an  embryo  calf,  what  do  we  know  about  its  ancestors  ? 
When  we  find  rudimentary  legs  under  the  flesh  of  a  full-grown 


212  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

whale,  what  do  we  know  about  its  ancestors  ?  When  we  find  gill- 
slits  in  the  embryo  of  any  animal,  what  does  this  prove  about  its 
ancestors  ?  Why  is  a  rudiment  called  an  "  ancestral  reminiscence  "? 
Describe  the  modern  whale.  What  do  its  rudimentary  legs  and 
its  rudimentary  teeth  prove  ?  What  do  its  embryo  gill-slits  prove  ? 
Taken  altogether,  what  do  we  learn  about  the  history  of  ancestral 
whale  life  ?  What  is  structural  evidence  ?  Give  Darwin's  illustration. 
What  is  embryological  evidence  ?  Where  do  we  find  our  geological 
evidence  ?  What  evidence  does  geography  bring  ?  What  evidence 
comes  from  modern  experiments  ?  Taken  altogether,  what  do  the 
five  kinds  of  evidence  prove  ? 

CHAPTER  XI 

How  did  a  certain  woman  try  to  make  sure  that  her  child  should 
be  musical?  Are  children  stamped  by  what  the  parents  are  in 
themselves  or  by  what  the  parents  compel  themselves  to  do  ?  How 
did  the  friend  know  that  the  daughter  would  be  persistent  and  not 
musical  ?  For  how  long  a  time  did  women  in  China  continue  to 
bind  the  feet  of  their  daughters  ?  During  what  part  of  life  were  the 
feet  kept  cramped  ?  What  effect  did  the  binding  have  on  the  feet  of 
the  children  of  succeeding  generations  ?  What  is  an  acquired  char- 
acter ?  (For definition  see  footnote.)  If  a  woman  crimps  her  hair,  what 
effect  will  this  have  on  the  hair  of  her  children  or  of  her  children's 
children  ?  In  what  way  can  curly  hair  be  secured  for  one's  de- 
scendants ?  Mention  certain  characters  which  may  be  acquired  and 
which  are  not  passed  on  by  inheritance.  Describe  trees  that 
are  dwarfed  in  the  gardens  of  Japan.  How  did  they  become  so 
dwarfed  ?  Judging  by  the  appearance  of  the  trees,  what  would  one 
expect  their  descendants  to  be  ?  In  point  of  fact,  is  the  condition 
of  being  dwarfed  passed  on  by  inheritance  ?  When  dogs,  sheep,  and 
horses  have  their  tails  cut  off  for  successive  generations,  what  effect 
does  this  have  on  the  tails  of  their  descendants  ?  What  is  a  mutation  ? 
Speak  of  the  mutation  that  appeared  in  a  herd  of  well-horned  cattle 
in  Paraguay  in  1770.  Why  were  the  owners  pleased  with  this 
hornless  animal  ?  What  kind  of  descendants  did  it  have  ?  Why 
were  the  owners  astonished  at  results  ?  What  does  Darwin  tell  us 


QUESTIONS  213 

about  the  origin  of  short-legged  Ancon  sheep  ?  Why  are  these 
sheep  particularly  liked  by  sheep  raisers  ?  Where  are  they  now 
found  ?  Describe  Mr.  Poulton's  family  of  cats.  Describe  the  dif- 
ferent members  of  the  family  of  the '  six-fingered  boy.  What  is 
meant  by  polydactylism  ?  What  does  brachydactylism  mean  ?  De- 
scribe the  case  of  the  short-fingered  family  shown  in  the  diagram. 
What  do  all  these  facts  prove  about  any  character  which  begins  as 
a  mutation  ?  \Vhat  is  the  difference  between  an  acquired  character 
and  a  mutation  ?  If  this  mutation  should  give  its  owner  any  ad- 
vantage in  the  struggle  for  existence,  what  would  be  the  effect  on 
succeeding  generations  ? 

CHAPTER  XII 

Give  a  few  facts  about  the  Hawaiian  Islands  (see  footnote). 
Describe  the  different  kinds  of  land  shells  that  were  found  on  these 
islands  in  1852  — their  color,  size,  etc.  How  long  and  how  wide  is 
the  island  of  Oahu  ?  What  can  you  say  about  its  mountain  range 
and  its  valleys  ?  How  many  species  of  the  same  family  of  shells 
did  John  Gulick  find  on  Oahu  alone  ?  Just  where  did  the  different 
species  live  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the  traveling  habits  of  these 
snails  ?  What  did  John  Gulick  do  that  made  his  collection  priceless 
afterwards  ?  What  does  he  say  about  his  interest  in  the  location  of 
each  shell?  What  did  he  discover  about  the  numbers  of  species 
that  were  close  together  ?  As  he  gathered  his  shells  and  studied,  com- 
pared, and  labeled  them,  what  did  he  notice  about  those  that  lived 
closest  together?  When  he  had  arranged  his  shells  according  to 
the  exact  spot  they  came  from,  what  further  did  he  notice  ?  What 
was  the  first  question  which  he  asked  himself  ?  WThat  was  the 
second  question  ?  How  long  afterwards  did  Dr.  Gulick  answer  his 
own  questions  ?  How  was  it  that  nature  acted  like  a  careful  breeder 
on  Oahu  ?  Give  the  first  step  in  this  process  ;  the  second  step  ;  the 
third  step ;  the  fourth  step.  Just  why  did  each  new  group  of 
descendants  become  slightly  different  from  its  own  immediate 
ancestors  ?  To  make  this  plain,  give  the  case  of  seven  birds  with 
beaks  of  different  length.  How  is  the  average  found  (see  footnote)  ? 
What  can  be  said  about  this  law  of  average  in  connection  with  snails  ? 


214  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Give  two  reasons  why  there  was  such  an  extraordinary  number 
of  species  of  snails  on  Hawaii.  When  colony  after  colony  had 
been  started  in  this  way,  what  should  we  expect  to  find  in  regard 
to  their  descendants  ?  What  does  Dr.  Gulick  call  any  separation 
which  prevents  one  colony  from  mating  with  another  colony  ? 
What  is  geographic  isolation  ?  What  is  food  isolation  ?  What  does 
genuine  isolation  of  this  sort  result  in  ?  What  sets  of  living  crea- 
tures are  controlled  by  the  law  of  isolation  ? 

CHAPTER  XIII 

In  Kansas  what  special  event  marked  the  year  1862  ?  What 
did  one  afflicted  man  write  about  his  experience  with  potato  bugs  ? 
Where  did  the  ancestors  of  these  beetles  come  from  ?  When  and 
where  did  they  get  their  first  taste  of  potatoes  ?  What  years  are 
covered  by  Dr.  Tower's  history  of  the  dispersal  of  Leptinotarsa 
decemlineata  ?  What  does  this  record  show  ?  What  road  did  the 
beetles  take  in  traveling  from  Illinois  to  Boston  ?  Give  the  records 
for  1864,  1865,  1868,  1871,  1874,  1875,  and  1876.  How  fast  did 
the  beetles  travel  ?  How  long  did  it  take  them  to  make  the  journey  ? 
Why  were  the  European  nations  anxious  ?  What  weapon  did  Europe 
use  to  save  herself  ?  What  was  done  in  Germany  and  in  France  ? 
Describe  what  happened  in  1876.  In  this  journey  what  did  the 
beetles  prove  about  their  own  environment?  What  one  thing  did 
they  require  ?  How  much  time  do  most  potato  bugs  spend  under- 
ground ?  What  happens  to  them  in  the  spring  ?  Why  does  the  farmer 
feel  discouraged  ?  What  does  he  do  ?  Compare  the  snails  of  Hawaii 
with  the  potato  bugs  of  America :  first,  the  number  of  species ; 
second,  the  kinds  of  food ;  third,  the  methods  of  travel ;  fourth, 
the  region  covered  by  a  single  species  of  snails  on  Hawaii  and  by 
a  single  species  of  potato  bugs  in  America.  Put  together  in  this 
way,  what  do  these  facts  show  ?  Tell  what  conditions  would  have 
been  necessary  in  order  to  make  many  species  instead  of  one 
species  out  of  the  potato  bugs  of  America. 


QUESTIONS  215 

CHAPTER  XIV 

How  fast  do  Leptinotarsa  decemlineata  multiply  ?  When  does 
the  egg-laying  time  come  ?  Describe  the  process.  How  many  eggs 
are  laid  in  close  succession  ?  What  is  the  entire  number  laid  by  one 
beetle  ?  Why  do  the  eggs  have  to  be  laid  in  separate  sets  ?  How 
many  days  are  there  between  the  laying  of  two  successive  sets  ? 
When  do  the  larvae  begin  to  eat  green  things  ?  How  many  days  are 
required  to  turn  a  newly  hatched  larva  into  a  full-grown  beetle  ready 
to  lay  eggs  of  its  own  ?  Where  did  Dr.  Tower  carry  on  his  experi- 
ments ?  What  did  he  already  know  about  the  starting  point  of  every 
kind  of  beetle  ?  What  did  he  propose  to  find  out  about  germ 
cells  ?  In  studying  the  matter  of  color,  how  many  beetles  did 
Dr.  Tower  secure  ?  Where  did  they  come  from  ?  When  they 
reached  Chicago,  where  did  he  put  them  ?  What  about  the  tem- 
perature of  each  breeding  place  ?  During  what  years  did  Dr.  Tower 
carry  on  his  investigations  ?  After  eleven  years  what  had  he  found 
out  about  the  effect  of  heat  and  of  cold  on  the  color  of  the  spots 
and  stripes  of  the  beetles  ?  What  did  these  experiments  prove  ? 
What  calamity  overtook  the  beetles  ?  Before  they  had  been  killed 
by  the  heat,  what  other  experiments  did  Dr.  Tower  carry  on  ? 
What  did  he  suspect  about  germ  cells  being  influenced  by  their 
environment?  How  many  pairs  of  beetles  did  he  choose  in  1902  ? 
What  did  he  do  with  them  ?  How  many  eggs  did  they  lay  ?  What 
did  he  call  this  set  ?  What  did  he  do  with  those  six  beetles  and  all 
their  eggs  after  that  ?  How  many  additional  eggs  did  these  same 
beetles  lay  ?  What  was  this  set  called  ?  What  happened  to  many 
of  the  eggs  and  many  of  the  larvae  of  both  Lot  A  and  Lot  B  ? 
How  many  full-grown  beetles  were  produced  by  lots  A  and  B? 
(See  footnote.)  What  was  the  scientific  name  of  the  parents  of 
these  beetles?  Where  had  they  been  brought  from  in  the  first 
place  ?  When  beetles  of  this  species  are  frightened,  what  do  they  do  ? 
When  another  species,  called  Leptinotarsa  melanothorax,  is  frightened, 
what  does  it  do  ?  What  was  it  that  surprised  Dr.  Tower  about  this 
lot  of  beetles  ?  What  had  the  damp-heat  environment  done  to  them 
even  before  they  had  been  laid  as  eggs  ?  From  the  scientific  point 
of  view,  what  was  the  most  notable  part  of  Dr.  Tower's  work  ? 


2l6  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

CHAPTER  XV 

How  many  unfertilized  frogs'  eggs  did  Professor  Bataillon  use  for 
the  experiment  described  ?  What  did  he  do  with  them  ?  How  soon 
did  results  begin  to  appear  ?  How  many  of  the  eggs  developed  in 
normal  fashion  ?  How  many  of  them  finally  turned  themselves  into 
tadpoles  ?  Of  these,  how  many  lived  to  become  real  frogs  ?  Describe 
the  oldest  of  the  three.  How  many  cells  has  the  amoeba  ?  How 
does  it  multiply  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the  number  of  cells  in 
all  complex  animals  ?  Mention  a  few  of  the  different  kinds  of  cells 
and  the  kinds  of  work  they  do.  Which  cells  are  able  to  pass  life 
along  from  one  generation  to  the  next  ?  How  much  alike  do  the 
germ  cells  of  different  kinds  of  animals  look  ?  Mention  some  of  the 
characters  that  are  stored  up  for  use  and  packed  into  their  own 
particular  germ  cell.  What  is  the  great  difference  between  germ 
cells  and  all  other  cells  of  the  body  ?  How  much  do  they  do  for 
the  welfare  of  the  body  to  which  they  belong  ?  What  is  the  sole 
purpose  of  their  existence  ?  What  happens  to  both  the  amoeba  and 
the  germ  cell  if  they  become  dry  ?  Why  is  it  easy  to  keep  fish  cells 
from  drying  up?  What  does  a  mass  of  fish  eggs  look  like?  For 
the  benefit  of  the  next  generation,  how  long  must  germ  cells  stay  in 
damp  surroundings  ?  In  this  respect  what  special  advantage  have 
fish  and  frogs  ?  What  is  nature's  arrangement  for  keeping  embryo 
birds  and  reptiles  moist  while  they  develop?  What  two  things 
is  the  albumen  of  the  egg  good  for  ?  What  two  things  does  the 
shell  do  ?  Why  are  not  all  animals  (ourselves  included)  supplied 
with  eggshells,  then  hatched  out  when  the  time  comes  ? 

CHAPTER  XVI 

During  what  period  of  their  lives  did  Dr.  Minot  study  develop- 
ing chicks  ?  How  did  he  do  this  ?  At  the  end  of  the  first  day  what 
change  did  he  find  ?  at  the  end  of  the  second  day  ?  the  third  day  ? 
the  fourth  day  ?  the  fifth  day  ?  What  was  the  condition  of  the 
chick  after  ten  days  of  growing?  From  start  to  finish,  in  what 
does  the  whole  process  of  growth  consist  ?  Mention  the  figures 
that  follow  each  other  after  the  first  combined  germ  cell  begins  to 


QUESTIONS  217 

divide.  What  can  you  say  about  the  resemblance  of  different  em- 
bryos in  their  earliest  stages  ?  As  it  grows,  how  does  an  animal  in 
its  eggshell  get  nourishment  ?  When  does  an  expanding  chick 
make  its  way  out  of  its  shell  ?  How  long  is  it  from  the  time  when 
a  hen  begins  to  sit  on  her  eggs  to  the  time  when  the  chick  is  hatched  ? 
When  is  an  animal  said  to  be  oviparous  ?  When  an  animal  is  born 
alive,  what  is  it  called  ?  Before  birth  what  supplies  nourishment  to 
the  developing  oviparous  animal  ?  Describe  the  difference  between 
the  chick  and  the  rabbit  after  birth.  Mention  the  time  it  takes  for 
various  animals  to  develop.  When  do  cells  multiply  fastest,  before 
or  after  birth  ?  What  have  surroundings  to  do  with  the  welfare  of 
young  and  growing  creatures  ?  What  was  it  that  made  the  differ- 
ence in  the  size  of  the  four  young  tadpoles  ?  How  much  does  a 
normal  seven-pound  baby  gain  during  the  first  year  of  his  life  ?  How 
much  does  he  gain  during  the  second  year  ?  After  that,  how  much 
until  he  is  fourteen  years  old  ?  What  two  things  can  a  baby  do  from 
the  start  ?  What  about  the  use  of  all  five  senses  ?  Give  a  brief  sketch 
of  the  progress  of  the  baby  from  stage  to  stage.  What  does  Dr. 
Minot  call  the  first  period  of  a  baby's  development?  What  has 
happened  during  this  period  ?  What  does  a  baby  do  during  its 
second  period  ?  Give  what  you  can  of  Dr.  Minot's  description  of 
an  eight-months-old  baby.  When  is  a  baby  usually  able  to  walk  ? 
What  does  Dr.  Minot  say  about  the  importance  of  the  health  of 
the  mothers  ? 

CHAPTER  XVII 

How  many  eggs  were  in  the  incubator?  Describe  the  appear- 
ance of  the  chicks  when  they  were  hatched.  Altogether,  how  many 
chicks  came  from  the  eggs  ?  What  happened  to  the  rest  of  them  ? 
How  many  chicks  died  within  four  days  after  the  hatching  ?  When 
investigators  looked  for  an  explanation  of  all  this,  what  did  they 
find  ?  What  conclusion  did  they  come  to  about  the  effect  of  alcohol 
on  chicks  in  their  shells  ?  What  was  Dr.  Forel's  own  conclusion  ? 
Describe  the  two  sets  of  tests  carried  on  by  Dr.  Fere'  between  the 
years  1894  and  1903.  How  often  was  the  same  experiment  re- 
peated ?  What  did  the  tests  always  show  about  the  minds  of  the 
chicks  ?  What  seemed  to  be  the  matter  with  those  that  had  endured 


218  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

the  vapor  of  the  alcohol  ?  How  did  Dr.  Stockard  first  give  alcohol 
to  his  guinea  pigs  ?  What  was  his  second  attempt  ?  Why  did  he 
stop  giving  it  to  them  through  a  tube  ?  Describe  his  copper  tank. 
What  does  Dr.  Stockard  say  about  the  guinea  pigs  in  the  copper 
tanks  ?  How  long  did  they  usually  stay  in  the  tank  ?  During  the 
rest  of  the  time  what  kind  of  air  did  the  guinea  pigs  breathe  ?  For 
how  many  days  in  a  week,  and  for  how  many  months,  was  this 
treatment  kept  up  ?  What  effect  did  the  fumes  have  on  the  guinea 
pigs  at  first  ?  In  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  how  did  they  behave  ? 
So  far  as  the  next  generation  was  concerned,  what  were  the  four 
kinds  of  tests  ?  When  neither  of  the  parents  was  treated  with  alco- 
hol, how  many  of  their  children  lived  ?  When  both  parents  were 
treated  with  alcohol,  what  was  the  fate  of  all  their  children  ?  How 
many  families  did  Dr.  Gordon  study  in  which  both  father  and 
mother  used  alcohol  ?  How  many  children  were  there  in  these 
families  ?  How  many  of  these  were  epileptics  ?  In  twenty  other 
families  where  the  grandfather  as  well  as  both  parents  used  alco- 
hol, what  was  the  condition  of  the  offspring?  How  many  family 
records  did  Dr.  Demme  investigate  in  Switzerland  ?  Give  the 
record  of  the  children  of  the  ten  drinking  families.  Give  the  record 
of  the  ten  abstaining  families.  What  was  Dr.  Bezzola's  occupa- 
tion ?  When  children  were  brought  to  the  institution,  what  did  he 
often  hear  about  the  parents  ?  What  census  reports  did  he  study  ? 
Why  did  he  look  up  the  birthdays  of  those  8196  feeble-minded 
persons  ?  Which  did  Dr.  Bezzola  call  the  alcohol-rich  periods  in 
Switzerland  ?  which  the  alcohol-poor  months  ?  Give  the  first  point 
made  by  Dr.  Bezzola's  report ;  the  second  point.  How  much  alco- 
hol may  a  person  take  without  running  the  risk  of  damaging  a 
future  child  ?  What  does  Dr.  Bezzola  declare  about  this  particular 
matter  ?  What  was  his  conclusion  from  the  studies  he  made  ?  Why 
should  we  refrain  from  blaming  a  feeble-minded  person  ? 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

What  three  questions  did  Dr.  Gulick  ask  in  1897  ?  Who  received 
these  questions  ?  How  many  answers  came  back  ?  What  did  Dr. 
Gulick  do  with  these  answers?  What  did  the  tables  show  about 


QUESTIONS  219 

the  age  when  special  choices  were  made  ?  What  report  did  Dr. 
Gulick  study  in  the  Eleventh  Census  of  the  United  States  ?  What 
did  he  do  next  ?  What  do  the  tables  show  about  the  average  age 
of  prisoners  ?  What  is  the  average  duration  of  sentence  of  the 
American  male  prisoner  ?  What,  then,  is  the  average  age  at  which 
he  enters  prison  ?  In  closing,  what  does  Dr.  Gulick  say  about  the 
age  at  which  individuals  take  to  criminal  life  ?  Which  period  of 
human  life  is  most  full  of  fateful  import  ?  When  the  era  opens,  what 
is  the  condition  of  the  individual  ?  When  it  ends,  what  has  the 
child  become  ?  What  kind  of  reading  and  study  do  boys  most  enjoy 
between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  twenty  ?  Why  do  many  boys  begin 
to  smoke  during  this  era  ?  During  which  years  does  a  girl  grow  more 
attractive  —  more  womanly  and  gracious  ?  What  is  the  period  of 
special  instability  ?  Why  is  it  called  the  storm-and-stress  period  ? 
What  should  receive  special  attention  during  the  adolescent  years  ? 
During  what  years  is  a  man  deciding  his  destiny  ?  While  he  de- 
cides his  own  fate  and  forms  his  own  habits,  what  is  he  doing  for 
his  descendants  ? 

CHAPTER  XIX 

How  many  boys  helped  Dr.  McKeever  in  his  experiments? 
What  were  their  ages  ?  Why  did  Dr.  McKeever  need  the  help  of 
these  particular  boys  ?  What  was  he  trying  to  decide  about  the  use 
of  tobacco  ?  What  machine  did  he  use  ?  What  records  does  the 
sphygmograph  keep  ?  Where  is  it  fastened  to  the  body  ?  On  what 
does  its  needle  make  a  record  ?  When  were  the  records  taken  ? 
What  did  they  explain  ?  Give  the  first  statement ;  the  second  state- 
ment. What  does  the  first  diagram  show  ?  the  second  diagram  ? 
Compare  these,  line  by  line,  with  the  third  diagram.  What  does  the 
heartbeat  indicate  about  the  changing  feelings  of  the  boy  ?  What 
parts  of  the  body  are  benefited  when  the  heart  makes  its  best  record  ? 
Why  are  they  benefited  ?  What  was  done  with  the  sphygmograph 
while  the  different  records  were  being  taken  on  the  same  boy? 
How  long  did  this  unusual  vigor  last  ?  Then  what  happened  ?  What 
is  the  objection  to  slow-moving  blood  and  a  low  heart  record? 
What  parts  of  the  body  suffer  ?  How  long  will  the  slow-pumping 
heart  stay  in  charge  of  the  slow-moving  blood  of  the  smoker  ?  What 


220  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

will  happen  when  he  takes  his  next  cigarette  ?  How  many  ciga- 
rettes does  the  habitual  smoker  sometimes  use  a  day  ?  What  can 
you  say  about  the  double  character  of  tobacco  ?  Describe  the  case 
of  Dr.  Kellogg's  frogs.  How  much  nicotine  does  it  take  to  kill  a 
frog  ?  What  was  the  fate  of  Homer  Leslie  ?  What  is  the  one  most 
injurious  thing  in  tobacco  ?  Describe  what  takes  place  when  a  man 
sets  fire  to  his  cigarette  and  smokes  it.  At  what  point  do  the  nico- 
tine and  the  smoke  part  company  ?  What  becomes  of  the  smoke  ? 
Follow  the  journey  of  the  nicotine.  What  occurs  as  soon  as  the 
nicotine  in  the  blood  stream  reaches  the  heart  ?  'When  Dr.  Seaver 
studied  the  records  of  smokers  and  nonsmokers  among  the  students 
at  Yale,  what  did  he  learn  about  them  ?  Give  Dr.  Meylan's  con- 
clusions. When  ignorant  people  protest  against  these  conclusions, 
what  are  the  two  horns  of  the  dilemma  which  they  have  to  choose 
between  ?  Why  does  this  chapter  say  so  little  about  grown  men  who 
smoke  ?  When  does  the  smoking  habit  do  a  person  most  harm, 
before  or  after  he  is  twenty-five  years  old  ?  Tell  what  you  can  of 
Mr.  Depew's  story  of  his  own  smoking  habit  and  how  he  broke  it. 
In  what  way  does  the  smoking  habit  of  one  generation  harm  the 
next  generation  ?  In  what  particular  ways  are  sons  apt  to  become 
like  their  fathers  ?  What  connection  is  there  between  the  tobacco 
habit  and  the  alcohol  habit  ? 

CHAPTER  XX 

Describe  the  case  of  the  boy  from  India.  What  kind  of  help  did 
the  doctor  say  he  must  have  during  the  operation  ?  How  was  the 
blood  sent  across  from  the  student  to  the  small  boy  ?  How  much 
blood  did  Charlie  receive  ?  What  was  the  result  ?  What  does  Sir 
Frederick  Treves  say  about  operating  on  drinkers  ?  Describe  the 
drinker  mentioned  in  this  chapter,  or  any  other  case  which  you  your- 
self have  seen.  Describe  the  diagram.  What  is  the  order  in  which 
brain  cells  develop  in  the  human  embryo  ?  Which  cells  are  developed 
first?  which  last?  which  part  of  the  brain 'does  alcohol  damage 
first  ?  which  part  last  ?  Describe  the  bottle  that  found  its  way  into 
the  schoolroom.  What  was  in  the  bottle?  Why  was  it  in  the 
schoolroom  ?  On  what  does  the  success  of  the  saloon  business  de- 
pend ?  In  whom  must  the  appetite  for  drink  be  created  ?  Mention 


QUESTIONS  221 

ways  in  which  this  kind  of  "  missionary  work  "  is  done.  What  ad- 
vantage is  there  in  giving  free  treats  to  boys  ?  If  boys  cannot  be 
secured  as  drinkers,  what  will  happen  to  the  liquor  business  of  the 
world  ?  Where  did  Dr.  Lambert  go  for  his  facts  about  all  this  ? 
What  made  him  decide  to  find  out  how  old  people  generally  are 
before  they  begin  to  drink  ?  How  many  persons  answered  his 
questions  ?  How  many  of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  person s* 
began  to  use  alcohol  before  the  age  of  four?  between  the  ages 
of  six  and  twelve  ?  between  twelve  and  sixteen  ?  between  sixteen 
and  twenty-one  ?  between  twenty-one  and  thirty  ?  After  thirty  how 
many  were  there  ?  What  per  cent  of  those  who  have  the  alcohol 
habit  began  to  drink  before  they  were  twenty-one  years  old  ?  If  a  boy 
is  free  from  the  habit  until  he  is  twenty-one,  what  are  his  chances  ? 


CHAPTER  XXI 

Point  out  the  vital  difference  between  man  and  the  huge  animals 
of  former  times.  How  did  the  brain  of  the  largest  animals  compare 
in  size  with  the  brain  of  the  smallest  man  that  lives  to-day  ?  Ex- 
plain the  size  of  man's  brain  by  the  five-linked  chain  of  evolution. 
While  the  brain  developed,  what  other  useful  part  of  man  was  also 
developing  ?  In  what  ways  did  man  now  begin  to  help  himself  and 
his  descendants  ?  In  order  to  understand  man  in  his  early  condition, 
what  part  of  modern  civilization  must  we  sweep  away  ?  Describe  the 
conditions  in  which  our  earliest  human  ancestors  lived.  Mention 
one  or  two  of  the  greatest  early  inventions.  How  is  man  supposed 
to  have  made  his  first  fire  ?  How  important  to  the  race  was  this 
discovery  ?  What  constituted  the  beginnings  of  architecture  ?  What 
faculties  of  the  mind  did  early  man  press  into  service  ?  What  was 
the  beginning  of  our  higher  mathematics  ?  •  In  all  this  what  did  each 
generation  gain  from  the  generation  that  went  before  ?  What  do 
we  mean  by  "  social  inheritance  "  ?  In  addition  to  his  physical  in- 
heritance and  his  social  inheritance,  in  addition  to  his  inventions  and 
his  discoveries,  what  did  the  spiritual  part  of  man  do  for  him  ?  So 
far  as  his  past  and  his  future  are  concerned,  in  what  way  is  man 
superior  to  all  other  living  creatures  ?  What  is  it  that  gives  man 
conscious  power  as  he  walks  the  earth  ?  What  does  he  know  about 


222  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

the  power  of  his  own  will  ?  What  is  man  willing  to  do  for  his  fellow 
men  ?  What  is  man's  crown  of  evolution  ?  What  advantage  is  it 
to  man  to  have  a  normal,  well-trained  brain  ?  In  what  way  may  a 
man's  brain  be  a  disadvantage  to  him  ?  How  does  it  happen  that 
man  is  able  to  do  himself  more  harm  than  can  be  done  to  itself 
by  any  other  creature  ?  Speak  of  the  changes  that  have  come 
about  since  men  were  scattered  savages  fighting  each  other.  As 
groups  grew  larger,  what  notion  also  grew  stronger  ?  Who  are  the 
members  of  a  family  ? 

CHAPTER  XXII 

Why  must  such  a  book  as  this  take  the  laws  of  family  health  into 
account  ?  Why  are  people  who  live  together  in  more  danger  from 
certain  diseases  than  are  those  who  live  apart  ?  Mention  a  few  of  the 
diseases  that  threaten  those  who  live  closest  together.  Of  what  are 
towns  and  cities  made  up?  On  what  does  the  future  of  every 
nation  depend  ?  What  is  an  important  motto  of  modern  life  ? 
For  the  sake  of  this  generation  and  the  next,  what  two  sets  of 
laws  must  one  know  about  ?  In  former  times  what  was  a  nation's 
watchword  ?  What  is  the  modern  command  ?  Why  is  the  modern 
form  of  patriotism  the  nobler  kind  ?  How  does  a  man  prove  that 
he  is  worthy  of  the  crown  which  evolution  has  placed  upon  him  ? 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

In  what  periodical  was  the  account  of  the  epidemic  described 
by  Dr.  Schamberg  ?  What  happened  on  March  4,  1911?  What 
blemish  did  one  of  the  young  men  have  ?  If  an  intelligent  doctor 
had  seen  the  sore,  what  would  he  have  said  about  it  ?  What  occurred 
on  March  25?  How  large  did  the  sore  become  ?  When  did  the 
second  girl  discover  her  two  sores  ?  Where  were  they  located  ? 
How  many  cases  of  the  same  kind  followed  each  other  through 
the  months  of  March  and  April  ?  In  each  case  what  was  the  cause 
of  the  sore  ?  What  lesson  did  Dr.  Schamberg  say  this  epidemic 
should  teach  ?  Why  was  this  special  kind  of  sore  worse  than  any 
other  ?  What  did  it  prove  about  the  condition  of  the  entire  body  ? 
Under  what  conditions  do  the  microbes  of  this  sore  go  from  person 


QUESTIONS  223 

to  person  ?  When  a  cracked  mucous  membrane  comes  in  contact 
with  one  of  the  sores,  what  happens  at  once  ?  What  is  the  condition 
of  things  after  twelve  hours  ?  How  long  after  the  contact  will  the 
first  sign  of  sore  show  itself  ?  Why  is  this  sore  called  the  "  mark  of 
the  devil "  ?  As  microbes  multiply  in  the  new  place,  what  do  they 
manufacture  ?  What  becomes  of  this  poison  ?  What  does  Dr.  Forel 
say  about  the  progress  of  this  disease  ?  How  long  may  the  disease 
stay  latent  in  the  body  ?  Where  may  it  appear  later  ?  What  does 
it  cause  ?  What  does  Dr.  Morrow  say  about  this  disease  ?  What 
does  Dr.  Osier  say  ?  Where  may  mucous  patches  of  the  disease 
appear  ?  Why  is  there  so  much  agitation  nowadays  against  the  use 
of  the  public  drinking  cup  ?  What  is  now  used  instead  ?  In 
watching  those  who  use  a  public  drinking  cup,  what  have  you 
seen  ?  If  a  public  drinking  cup  must  be  used,  what  is  the  one 
safe  way  to  drink  from  it.?  Mention  some  of  the  laws  of  protection. 
Of  all  the  disease's  which  come  to  man,  why  is  this  the  worst  ? 

CHAPTER  XXIV 

Describe  the  case  of  the  doctor  on  the  night  boat  going  from 
Boston  to  New  York.  What  did  the  man  know  about  the  cause 
of  his  calamity  ?  Describe  Dr.  Howard's  case  of  the  mother  and 
the  daughter  who  lost  their  eyesight.  If  the  woman  had  known  the 
facts,  by  what  simple  means  might  she  have  handled  the  sheets 
and  the  towels  and  yet  have  prevented  the  microbes  from  entering 
her  eyes  ?  About  how  many  totally  blind  persons  are  there  in  the 
United  States  ?  About  how  many  partially  blind  persons  ?  About  how 
many  of  them  all  have  been  made  blind  through  the  gonococcus 
microbes?  When  did  these  microbes  enter  their  eyes  and  cause 
blindness  ?  What  does  Dr.  Neisser  say  about  the  conditions  of  this 
blindness  in  Germany  ?  How  true  is  the  expression  "  blind  from 
birth  "  ?  In  almost  all  cases,  what  is  the  condition  of  eyes  at  birth  ? 
When  does  the  blindness  come  ?  If  the  right  medicine  were  used 
at  once,  what  would  be  the  result  ?  What  three  things  does  every 
state  commission  for  the  blind  propose  to  do  ?  In  treating  the  eyes 
of  a  newborn  baby,  what  should  be  done  first  ?  Why  is  a  separate 
cloth  used  for  each  eye  ?  How  is  the  medicine  put  into  the  eye  ? 


224  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

What  is  the  medicine  and  how  much  of  it  is  used  ?  Why  should 
everything  be  perfectly  clean  that  touches  the  baby's  eyes  ?  Why 
should  the  dropper  be  used  for  no  other  purpose  ?  (Lest  microbes 
from  a  diseased  eye  get  to  the  dropper  and  be  passed  on  to  some 
other  person.)  Mention  some  symptom  which  shows  that  the 
eyes  of  the  baby  are  needing  the  care  of  a  doctor.  Why 
should  the  doctor  be  called  at  once  ?  What  does  this  particular 
medicine  do  to  any  gonococcus  microbes  that  may  be  in  the  eye  ? 
If  the  eyes  are  free  from  these  microbes,  what  objection  is  there  to 
using  the  medicine  ?  Why  should  the  medicine  be  used  only  by 
the  doctor's  order?  What  progress  is  being  made  in  the  care  of 
the  eyes  of  babies  ?  When  these  microbes  reach  the  tender  tissues 
of  the  eye,  what  do  they  do  as  they  multiply  ?  What  impression 
do  these  microbes  make  on  the  thick  skin  of  the  body  ?  Do  they 
travel  about  in  the  blood  stream  of  the  body  ?  When  and  where 
do  they  exercise  their  one  power  to  do  harm  ?  How  fast  do  they 
destroy  any  delicate,  moist  membrane  ?  From  the  starting  point 
where  do  they  go  ?  What  does  the  doctor  say  as  they  travel  from 
membrane  to  membrane  ?  What  do  the  advancing  hosts  of  microbes 
do  to  the  tissues  ?  Name  some  of  the  organs  of  the  body  that  are 
inflamed  and  scarred  by  these  microbes.  What  reason  has  Dr. 
Morehead  to  speak  of  the  "  snakiness  "  of  the  disease  ?  What  two 
questions  did  students  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  ask  Dr. 
Wilson  ?  What  was  his  answer  ?  One  after  the  other,  mention  all 
the  rules  of  prevention  you  can  think  of.  After  each  rule  give  the 
reason  for  it. 

CHAPTER  XXV 

When  did  Dr.  Jordan  visit  Aosta  ?  In  your  own  words  describe 
what  he  found  in  Aosta  in  1881.  Where  is  cretinism  found  ?  Which 
gland  is  diseased  in  every  cretin  ?  By  what  laws  is  cretinism  passed 
on  from  ancestor  to  descendant?  Why  was  Dr.  Jordan  surprised 
when  he  visited  Aosta  in  1910?  What  had  Aosta  done  with  its 
cretins  about  twenty  years  before  ?  So  far  as  the  next  generation 
was  concerned,  what  was  the  result  of  putting  the  cretins  into  asy- 
lums and  keeping  them  separate  ?  What  does  Dr.  Jordan  say  about 
his  search  for  cretins  and  his  failure  to  find  them  ?  In  closing  his 


QUESTIONS  225 

description  what  final  fact  does  Dr.  Jordan  bring  out  ?  What  did 
he  say  was  the  only  way  to  get  rid  of  a  next  generation  of  cretins  ? 
Describe  the  young  man  at  the  piano,  whom  Dr.  Hurty  watched. 
From  what  kind  of  insanity  did  the  superintendent  say  he  suffered  ? 
Repeat  the  question  which  Dr.  Hurty  asked  about  the  young 
man.  What  did  the  superintendent  answer  ?  How  many  feeble- 
minded persons  are  there  in  the  United  States  alone  ?  What  are 
the  three  terms  which  are  applied  to  feeble-minded  persons  ?  Are 
there  clearly  marked  distinctions  between  different  kinds  of  feeble- 
minded persons  or  do  they  grade  into  each  other  ?  How  old  are 
some  patients  in  the  Vineland  institution  ?  What  is  the  condition  of 
their  bodies  ?  What  is  the  condition  of  their  minds  ?  Tell  a  little 
of  what  is  done  for  these  mentally  weak  children.  Years  ago,  when 
scientists  looked  into  the  stupid  faces  of  feeble-minded  persons,  what 
question  did  they  naturally  ask  themselves  ?  When  they  looked  up 
family  records,  what  kind  of  ancestors  did  they  find  in  each  family  ? 
How  far  back  does  the  history  of  the  Kallikak  family  go  ?  Why 
is  the  real  name  of  the  family  not  given  to  the  public  ?  Who 
was  the  first  Kallikak  described  ?  In  what  war  was  he  a  sol- 
dier ?  What  sort  of  woman,  mentally,  was  the  mother  of  his 
first  son  ?  What  was  the  mental  condition  of  that  son  ?  When  this 
boy  had  grown  to  manhood,  what  kind  of  descendants  did  he 
himself  have  ?  Up  to  the  present  time  how  many  descendants  has 
he  had  ?  Of  these  how  many  have  been  normal,  healthy  people  ? 
How  many  have  been  or  are  now  feeble-minded  ?  Describe  the 
woman  whom  the  first  Kallikak  married  after  the  war  of  the  Revolu- 
tion was  over.  What  is  the  total  number  of  their  descendants  ?  Men- 
tion some  of  the  noble  characteristics  of  these  descendants.  How 
many  of  them  have  been  feeble-minded  ?  In  view  of  the  double 
record  of  the  descendants  of  the  same  man  and  the  two  different 
women,  what  do  we  learn  about  feeble-mindedness  and  inheritance  ? 
Give  the  laws  that  govern  the  inheritance  of  feeble-mindedness. 
How  careful  are  the  Vineland  people  to  keep  their  feeble-minded 
men  and  women  separated  from  each  other?  When  a  feeble- 
minded person  has  received  some  training,  why  is  it  unwise  to  send 
him  out  into  the  world  to  shift  for  himself  ?  If  the  Vineland  plan 
were  carried  out  all  over  the  world,  what  would  be  the  result  ? 


226  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

CHAPTER  XXVI 

Why  were  children  working  in  the  cotton  mills  of  England  one 
hundred  years  ago  ?  What  were  the  ages  of  the  children  ?  When 
were  they  supposed  to  do  their  studying?  Give  facts  about  the 
pauper  children  who  became  workers  at  the  mills.  How  long  at  a 
stretch  did  they  work  ?  What  wages  did  they  receive  ?  What  does 
Robert  Blincoe  say  about  his  own  experiences  ?  How  were  children 
prevented  from  running  away  from  the  mills  ?  What  did  earnest 
men  and  woman  finally  say  about  saving  the  children  ?  What 
occurred  in  1799  and  1800  to  help  the  new  movement  along? 
Where  did  the  epidemic  spread  ?  Who  suffered  most  ?  What  did 
doctors  say  was  the  cause  of  the  high  death  rate  of  the  children  ? 
In  response  to  the  agitation,  what  did  the  British  government  do  ? 
What  effect  did  the  law  have  on  conditions  of  life  for  children  ? 
What  does  Mr.  Claxton  say  about  the  condition  of  certain  child 
workers  in  1912?  Give  in  your  own  words  what  Mrs.  Kelley  de- 
scribes. What  does  Mr.  Potter  say  he  has  seen  ?  Mention  some 
of  the  things  which  overworked  children  are  known  to  make  in 
crowded  city  tenements.  What  does  Miss  Goldmark  say  about  the 
change  in  appearance  of  overworked  people  ?  What  does  Dr.  Ellis 
say  about  the  physical  condition  of  overworked  London  weavers  ? 
What  did  a  military  examining  physician  find  in  Germany  in  1891  ? 
What  is  the  general  belief  about  overwork  which  all  nations  are 
beginning  to  act  upon  ? 

CHAPTER  XXVII 

When  was  machinery  invented?  Why  did  it  look  as  if  great 
prosperity  were  at  hand  ?  Why  did  men,  women,  and  children  move 
into  town?  In  what  kind  of  surroundings  did  they  often  live? 
Describe  the  condition  of  Bethnal  Green  as  given  in  1848.  How 
many  miles  of  dwellings  did  the  town  have  ?  Who  were  the  city 
scavengers  ?  How  long  did  it  take  the  men  to  go  over  the  ground 
once  ?  Why  were  the  inhabitants  of  Bethnal  Green  attacked  by  dis- 
ease microbes  ?  What  did  people  know  about  disease  microbes  in 
those  days  ?  When  knowledge  began  to  take  the  place  of  ignorance, 
what  did  cities  themselves  begin  to  do  ?  What  was  the  first  great 


QUESTIONS  227 

step  towards  race  improvement  ?  In  these  days  what  are  some 
cities  doing  in  order  to  be  clean  ?  What  is  your  own  city  doing  in 
the  line  of  keeping  clean  ?  When  race-improvement  people  saw 
that  cleanliness  would  not  do  everything,  what  did  they  also  see 
was  being  done  by  factory  managers  and  others  ?  What  was  their 
conclusion  about  the  need  of  laws  to  help  the  oppressed  ?  What, 
then,  was  the  second  step  taken  in  the  direction  of  race  improvement? 
Since  protection  by  law  is  part  of  the  new  order,  tell  what  some  of 
these  laws  do  to  protect  people.  In  addition  to  cleanliness  and 
protection  by  law,  what  did  people  say  must  also  be  done  in  the 
matter  of  right  surroundings  for  children  ?  What,  then,  was  the 
third  step  in  race  improvement  called  ?  In  19 1 1  what  did  the  United 
States  government  do  to  help  the  children  ?  What  does  the  Chil- 
dren's Bureau  propose  to  do  ?  What  have  thoughtful  people  been 
noticing  about  the  effect  of  environment  on  children  ?  In  Man- 
chester, England,  over  seventy  years  ago,  how  many  children  out 
of  every  thousand  died  under  five  years  of  age  ?  What  helped  them 
to  die  so  young  ?  What  does  Dr.  Ashby  say  about  the  effect  of 
measles  on  healthy  children  of  well-to-do  people ;  that  is,  did  many 
or  few  of  their  children  die  of  measles?  What  about  the  result 
when  children  in  the  workhouses  and  such  places  had  measles  ? 
Mention  some  of  the  diseases  given  in  the  table  in  which  poverty 
had  much  to  do  with  the  death  rate.  To  what  fact  do  the  figures 
of  the  table  draw  our  attention  ?  Describe  the  difference  between 
the  condition  of  the  milk  supply  in  Rochester  in  1892  and  that  in 
1904.  What  improvement  in  the  death  rate  was  there  in  1904? 
What  was  the  explanation  of  the  changed  death  rate  ? 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 

How  large  an  army  of  defective  persons  was  Ohio  supporting 
in  1910?  Mention  some  of  the  kinds  of  defects  included  in  the 
number.  How  does  the  condition  in  Ohio  compare  with  that  to  be 
found  elsewhere  in  the  world  ?  How  do  we  prove  that  we  are  kind 
to  the  present  generation  ?  How  do  we  know  that  we  are  unkind 
to  the  next  generation?  In  view  of  this  condition,  what  con- 
clusion has  been  reached  by  those  who  love  their  fellow  men  ? 


228  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

What,  then,  is  the  fourth  great  step  in  the  race-improvement  series  ? 
In  past  ages  how  much  thought  did  people  give  to  the  welfare  of 
their  descendants  ?  By  what  laws  did  those  who  were  least  fitted 
to  survive  die  in  their  childhood  ?  What  effect  did  this  have  on  the 
number  of  healthy  and  efficient  people  in  each  generation  ?  Describe 
the  change  in  living  conditions  which  took  place  after  many  ages. 
What  effect  did  inferior  ancestors  have  on  whole  villages  of  descend- 
ants ?  Why  were  disease  microbes  now  able  to  make  havoc  among 
these  descendants?  In  those  days  how  much  did  people  know 
about  prevention  and  the  cause  of  the  havoc  ?  What  great  dis- 
covery did  Pasteur  make  in  1865  ?  What  was  he  studying  when 
he  came  upon  disease  microbes  in  the  silkworm  ?  Since  his  time 
what  have  other  men  discovered  in  the  same  direction  ?  What,  then, 
is  it  that  has  brought  us  to  the  parting  of  the  ways  ?  When  we 
glance  over  past  records,  what  do  we  learn  about  the  numbers  of 
defectives  in  former  times  and  their  numbers  now  ?  Describe  how 
it  is  that  through  our  kindness  we  have  been  helping  on  the  mis- 
fortunes of  the  race.  What  have  the  fit  been  doing  for  the  unfit  ? 
Was  it  right  for  us  to  lengthen  the  lives  of  our  degenerates  and 
maintain  them  in  comfort  ?  What  was  it  that  we  should  not  have 
done  ?  To  a  large  extent,  whose  descendants  are  now  multiplied  in 
our  asylums,  our  prisons,  and  our  hospitals  ?  To  whom  must  the 
new  road  which  humanity  travels  be  dedicated  ?  What  does  com- 
mon sense  tell  us  will  be  the  result  if  we  protect  children  before 
they  are  born  ?  If  we  should  do  this,  what  would  be  the  result  in 
the  future  ?  What  does  race  regeneration  really  mean  ?  How  can 
race  regeneration  come  ?  What  does  race  regeneration  command 
each  generation  to  do  for  the  next  generation  ?  What  is  the  noblest 
gift  which  one  generation  may  offer  to  another  ?  From  whom  has 
each  of  us  received  his  standards  of  life  ? 


A  PARTIAL  LIST  OF   BOOKS   USED   IN  THE 
PREPARATION  OF  THIS   VOLUME 


BATESON,  W.    Mendel's  Principles  of  Heredity.    1913. 

BEZZOLA,  Dr.  D.   Statistische  Untersuchungen  iiber  die  Rolle  des  Alcohols 

bei  der  Entsteh'ung  des  originaren  Schwachsinns.    1902. 
BUNGE,  G.     Alcoholic  Poisoning  and  Degeneration.  Journal  of  Inebriety. 

1900. 
CASTLE,  W.  E.    Heredity  in  Relation  to  Evolution  and  Animal  Breeding. 

1911. 
CASTLE,  W.  E.    Heredity  of  Coat-Characters  in  Guinea-Pigs  and  Rabbits. 

1905. 

DARWIN,  C.   The  Origin  of  Species.    1864. 

DARWIN,  C.    Naturalist's  Voyage  round  the  World.    Third  edition,  1860. 
DARWIN,  FRANCIS.    Life  and  Letters  of  Charles  Darwin.    1887. 
DAVENPORT,  C.  B.    Eugenics.    1910. 

DAVENPORT,  C.  B.    Heredity  in  Relation  to  Eugenics.    1911. 
ELLIS,  HAVELOCK.    The  Problem  of  Race-Regeneration.    1911. 
FISHER,  IRVING.    National  Vitality.    1908. 
GALTON,  F.,  and  SCHUSTER,  E.    Noteworthy  Families.    1906. 
GODDARD,  H.  II.    Heredity  of  Feeble-mindedness.    1911. 
GODDARD,  H.  H.    Elimination  of  Feeble-mindedness.    1911. 
GODDARD,  H.  H.    The  Menace  of  the  Feeble-minded.    1911. 
GODDARD,  H.  H.    The  Kallikak  Family.    1912. 
GOLDMARK,  JOSEPHINE.    Fatigue  and  Efficiency.    1912. 
GULICK,  J.  T.    Evolution,  Racial  and  Habitudinal.    1905. 
HALL,  G.  S.    Adolescence.    1905. 

HARWOOD,  W.  S.   New  Creations  in  Plant  Life.    1906. 
HORSLEY,  SIR  VICTOR,  and  STURGE,  MARY  D.   Alcohol  and  the  Human 

Body.    1908. 

HOWARD,  W.  L.    Plain  Facts  on  Sex  Hygiene.    1910. 
JEWETT,  FRANCES  GULICK.    Control  of  Body  and  Mind.    1908. 
JEWETT,  FRANCES  GULICK.    Town  and  City.    1906. 
JORDAN,  DAVID  STARR.   The  Heredity  of  Richard  Roe.    1911. 
JORDAN,  DAVID    STARR.    The    Scientific   Aspects  of   Luther   Burbank's 

Work.   1909. 

KELLICOTT,  W.  B.  The  Social  Direction  of  Human  Evolution.    1911. 

229 


230  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

MATTHEW,  W.  D.    Evolution  of  the  Horse.    Publication  of  the  American 

Museum  of  Natural  History,  1913. 

MCKEEVER,  W.  A.   The  Cigarette-Smoking  Boy.    1904. 
METCHNIKOFF,  £LIE.   The  Nature  of  Man.    1903. 
MORROW,  PRINCE  A.    Social  Diseases  and  Marriage.    1904. 
PEARSON,  KARL.   Nature  and  Nurture.    1910. 
STOCKARD,   C.  R.    An  Experimental   Study  of   Racial   Degeneration  in 

Mammals  treated  with  Alcohol.   Article  in  Archives  of  Internal  Medicine. 

October,  1912. 

THOMSON,  J.  A.    Darwinism  and  Human  Life.    1911. 
THOMSON,  J.  A.    Heredity.    1908. 

TOWER,  W.  L.    Evolution  in  Chrysomelid  Beetles.    1908. 
TREASURY  OF  HUMAN  INHERITANCE.    Publications  of  the  Francis  Gallon 

Laboratory  for  National  Eugenics,  1909-1912. 
TYLOR,  E.  B.    Primitive  Culture.    1874. 


INDEX 


Key  to  pronunciation :  fate,  senate,  fat,  arm,  ask ;  mete,  event,  met,  her ; 
ice,  It ;  5ld,  obey,  not ;  unite,  up  ;  obscure  sounds  :  a,  u. 


Acquired  characters,  definition  of, 
73,  n. ;  illustrations  of,  73,  74,  75; 
contrasted  with  mutations,  80 

Adolescent  era,  129-135 

Alcohol,  effect  of,  on  chicks,  118, 
1 19 ;  effect  of,  on  guinea  pigs,  119; 
effect  of,  on  descendants,  122- 
125;  relation  of,  to  feeble-minded- 
ness,  122,  125,  186;  as  a  bever- 
age, 145-1 52 ;  effect  of,  in  surgery, 
146;  effect  of,  on  brain  cells, 
146 

Amaryllis,  new  variety  of,  29 

American  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  horse  bones  shown  in 

34 
Amoeba  (a  me'ba),  multiplication  of, 

101,  103 

Ancestral  reminiscence,  68 
Andalusian  fowls,  7-1 1  ;   results  of 

mating,  9 ;    color  inheritance  of, 

10 
Angleworms    studied    by    Darwin, 

43'  44 
Annapolis,    entrance    examinations 

for,  showing  weak  heart,  141 
Aosta,  the  cretins  of,  181,  182 
Arizona,  horse  bones  found  in,  38 
Ashby,  Dr.,  199 
Austria,  27 

Babies,  growth  of,  described  by  Dr. 

Minot,  115;  health  of,  117;  eye 

treatment  of,  177 
Bataillon,  Professor,  100 
Beagle,  45,  46,  48,  51 
Beetles,  effect  of  damp  heat  upon, 

97-99 


Bern,  families  studied  in,  122 

Bering's  Strait,  48 

Bethnal  Green,  condition  of,  in  1848, 

196,  197 

Bezzola,  Dr.,  122,  123,  125 
Biffen,  Professor  R.  H.,  27 
Birds,  survival  of,  in  winter,  60 ; 

beaks  of,  in  illustration,  85,  86 
Blincoe,  Robert,  190 
Blindness,   case  of,  in   hotel,    174; 

cause    of,    174,    175;    prevention 

of,  177,  180 

Blood,  transfusion  of,  145,  146 
Boll  weevil,  harm  done  by,  29 
Boston  reached  by  potato  bugs,  90 
Brachydactylism  (brak  i  dak'ti  lizm), 

definition  of,  77  ;  studied  through 

five  generations,  79 
Brain,  effect  of  alcohol  on,  146-148  ; 

inhibition  centers  of,  147  ;  order 

of  development  of,  147  ;  advantage 

and    disadvantage    of,    160;    the 

crown  of  evolution,  160 
Brontosaurus,  154 
Briinn,  20 
Burbank,  Luther,  28,  30,  31 

Cactus,   with    thorns   and   without, 

31 
Canada  invaded  by  the  potato  bug, 

90 
Canneries,  children  at  work  in, 

J93 
Castle,  Professor  W.  E.,  12,  13,  14, 

1 6,  17 

Cats,  short-tailed,  75 
Chappie,  Dr.,  147 
Characters  defined,  12 


231 


232 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


Chicks,  study  of,  by  Dr.  Minot,  1 10, 
in;  comparison  of,  with  rabbits, 
114;  influence  of  alcohol  upon, 
118,  119 

Children,  description  of  overworked, 
189-195 ;  effect  of  overworked, 
on  community,  195;  protection 
of,  before  birth,  202-204 

Civilization,  modern  and  ancient 
contrasted,  156 

Claxton,  Mr.,  192 

Cleanliness,  modern  movement  to- 
ward, 197 

Coal  mine,  boys  at  work  in,  192 

Codfish,  illustrating  prodigality  of 
nature,  57  ;  in  illustration  of  the 
five-linked  chain,  63 

Columbus,  47 

Commissions  for  the  blind,  work 
of,  176,  177 

Conversion,  age  of,  127 

Corn,  fields  of,  compared,  27,  28 

Correns,  25 

Cotton  mills,  work  of  children  in,  1 89 

Crab,  68 

Cretins  (kre'tinz),  description  of,  by 
Dr.  Jordan,  181,  182 

Cuba,  yellow  fever  in,  60 

Dandelion  seeds,  56,  57 
Daniels,  Secretary,  151 
Darwin,  Charles,  42,  43,  47,  48,  49, 

5'»  52,  53,  55'  62,  63,  65,  67 
Demm,  Dr.,  122 
Depew,  Senator,  143 
De  Vries,  Professor,  25 
Dock,  Miss  Lavinia,  168 
Dogfish  showing  gill-slits,  64 
Dominant  defined,  15 
Drinking  cup,  public,  why  discarded, 

169-170 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  2,  3 

Eggs,  of  fish,  105-107 ;  of  birds,  107 ; 
importance  of,  108,  109;  subjected 
to  alcoholic  fumes,  118,  119 

Ellis,  Dr.,  134,  185,  199 

Elm  tree  seeds,  56,  57 

Embryo,  definition  of,  65 ;  gill-slits 
in,  65 ;  resemblances  of  different 
ones  in  early  stages,  112;  develop- 
ment of,  113 


Environment,  adaptation  of  potato 
bugs  to,  92-94;  effect  of,  in 
producing  species,  95-99 ;  for 
children,  199;  milk  as  part  of, 
200 ;  effect  of,  on  descendants, 
202 

Evolution,  of  the  horse,  34-42 ; 
shown  on  hind  foot  of  the  horse, 
37 ;  evidences  of,  64-70 ;  crown 
of,  153,  1 60 

Family,  as  unit  of  society,  161  ;  po- 
sition of,  in  civilization,  1 62 ;  health 
of,  162,  164 

Feeble-mindedness,  181  ;  numbers 
suffering  from,  183  ;  inheritability 
of,  185,  188;  prevention  of,  188 

Feet,  as  bound  in  China,  73,  74 

Fire,  making  of  first,  157 

Fish,  method  of  their  multiplication, 
105,  106 

Forel,  Dr.,  118,  119,  168 

Fossil  bones,  definition  of,  34  ;  reve- 
lations made  by,  40 ;  in  South 
America,  45,  47 

Frogs,  eggs  of,  under  treatment, 
100;  metamorphosis  of,  102;  ef- 
fect of  nicotine  on,  140 

Galapagos  Islands,  48,  49,  51 

Games,  kissing,  165 

Gamete  (gam'et),  103,  106 

Geologist,  study  of  bones  by,  39 

Germ  cells,  influence  of  environ- 
ment on,  96,  97  ;  union  of,  101  ; 
purpose  of,  103,  104;  similarities 
of,  104;  life  conditions  of,  107, 
1 08;  multiplication  of,  in,  112; 
damaged  by  alcohol,  118-125 

Germ  plasm,  significance  of,  105 

Gill-slits  shown  in  dogfish,  64 

Goddard,  Dr.  H.  H.,  186 

Goiter  (goi'ter),  181,  182 

Goldmark,  Miss,  194 

Gonococcus  (gon  o  kok'us),  174 

Gordon,  Dr.,  121 

Guinea  pigs,  why  used,  12;  color 
of,  13;  length  of  hair,  14;  albino 
defined,  14;  color  inheritance  in, 
15,  16;  combined  inheritance  in, 
17,  18;  effect  of  alcohol  upon, 
119-121 


INDEX 


233 


Gulick,  Dr.  J.  T.,  81,  82,  83, 84,  85, 87 
Gulick,  Dr.  L.  H.,  126,  127,  128 

Hapsburg  jaw,  159 

Hawaiian    Islands,    description   of, 

81,  n. 

Heinzendorf,  20 
Heredity,  Darwin's  law  of,  62 
Hereford  cattle,  32 
Holstein  cattle,  33 
Horse,    the    evolution    of,    34-42 ; 

ancient  and  modern  compared,  41 
Howard,  Dr.,  173,  174 
Hurty,  Dr.,  182,  183 
Hybrid  (hi'brid),  definition  of,  8 
Hyracotherium  (hi  ra  ko  the'ri  um), 

38 

Imprisonment,  age  of,  130 

Inheritance,  study  of,  withneighbors, 
2  ;  study  of,  through  descendants 
of  Jonathan  Edwards,  3  ;  study  of, 
through  the  Jukes  family,  4 ;  in 
Andalusian  fowls,  7-1 1 ;  in  guinea 
pigs,  12-19;  in  garden  peas,  20- 
2  5  ;  laws  of,  put  to  use,  26 ;  studied 
through  rudiments,  65—70  ;  social, 
143,  158;  relation  of,  to  feeble- 
mindedness, 184-188;  relation  of, 
to  race  regeneration,  201-204 

Isolation,  as  a  factor  in  evolution, 
81-87  ;  different  kinds  of,  sum- 
marized, 87 

Japan,  dwarfed  trees  in,  74,  75 
Jersey  cow,  32,  33 
Jordan,  Dr.  David  Starr,  68 
Journal   of  the  American    Medical 

Association,  165 
Jukes,  the  family  of,  4 ;  expense  of, 

to  New  York  State,  6 

Kallikak  family,  history  of,  186-187 
Kansas,  invasion  of,  by  the  potato 

bug,  88 

Kelley,  Mrs.  Florence,  192 
Kellogg,  Dr.,  140 
Koko  Head,  83 
Kukui  (koo  koo'e)  tree,  82 

Lambert,  Dr.  Alexander,  190 
Language,  beginnings  of,  156 


Loeb,  Professor,  100,  101 

Leptinotarsa  (lep'ti  no  tar'sa)  decent- 
lineata  (de  sem  lin  e  a'ta),  environ- 
ment for,  88,  94 ;  time  of,  spent 
underground,  93 

Leptinotarsa  melanothorax  (mel  a  no- 
tho'rax),  as  it  feigns  death,  98,  99 

Leptinotarsa  mtiltitcenita  (multite'- 
m  ta),  as  it  feigns  death,  98,  99 

Lungfish,  description  of,  71 

McKeever,  Dr.,  136,  137 

Manchester,  epidemic  in,  191 

Maple  seeds,  abundance  of,  56,  57 

Matthew,  Dr.,  36,  38,  40 

Mendel,  Gregor  Johann,  20,  22,  23, 
24,  25,  54;  laws  of,  stated,  24 

Mendelism,  24 

Meylan,  Dr.,  142 

Microbes,  and  kissing,  165,  166;  and 
blindness,  173,  174,  176;  of  gono- 
coccus,  methods  of  travel  of,  178  ; 
of  disease,  discovery  of,  202 

Minot,  Dr.,  no,  115,  116,  117 

Mississippi  River  crossed  by  the 
potato  bug,  90 

Morehead,  Dr.,  179 

Morrow,  Dr.,  168,  172 

Mutations,  definition  of,  75;  as 
studied  by  Hugo  de  Vries,  78 ; 
as  contrasted  with  acquired  char- 
acters, 80  ;  varieties  of,  99 

National  Association  of  British  and 

Irish  Millers,  26,  27 
Nebraska,  horse  bones  found  in,  38 
Neisser,  Dr.,  174 
Nicotine,  and  adolescence,  136, 144  ; 

course  taken  by,  to  reach  heart, 

141 
North  America,  48 

Oahu,  island  of,  81,  82,  93 

Ohio,  effect  of  winter  in,  on  birds,  60 

Omaha,  potato  bug  starts  eastward 

from,  89,  91,  92 

Oregon,  horse  bones  found  in,  38 
"  Origin  of  Species,"  publication  of, 

Osborn,  H.  F.,  39 

Osier,  Dr.,  168 

Oviparous  (o  vip'a  rus),  1 15 


234 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


Oxygen,  how  secured  by  fish  and 

by  land  animals,  64,  65 
Oysters,   illustrating  prodigality   of 

nature,  58 

Paleontologist  (pa  le  on  tol'o  jist), 
work  of,  40 

Paraguay,  75 

Pasteur,  Louis,  202 

Patriotism,  modern  type  of,  164 

Peas,  color  inheritance  in,  21 ;  domi- 
nant and  recessive  characters  of, 
22  ;  inheritance  of  seed  characters 
in,  23 

Pig,  Poland  China,  I 

Pigeons,  different  kinds  of,  51,  52 

Plum,  development  of,  31 

Plymouth,  typhoid  epidemic  in,  60 

Polydactylism  (pol  i  dak'ti  lizm),  il- 
lustration of,  76;  definition  of,  77 

Poppy,  improvement  of,  30 

Potato,  increased  value  of,  29 

Potato  bugs,  migrations  of,  88-94 ; 
comparison  of,  with  Hawaiian 
snails,  93,  94 

Potter,  Mr.,  193 

Poulton,  Mr.,  76 

Prodigality,  Darwin's  law  of,  58 

Pure-bred,  definition  of,  18 

Rabbit,  generations  of,  each  year,i  2 ; 
condition  of,  at  birth,  114 

Race  improvement,  three  steps  in, 
196-199 

Race  regeneration,  201,  204 

Recessive  character  defined,  15 

Rochester,  clean  milk  in,  200 

Rorqual,  giant  whale,  69 

Rudiments,  definition  of,  65 ;  in 
calves,  65  ;  in  the  whale,  65 ;  Dar- 
win's statements  about,  67  ;  prov- 
ing history  of  whale,  67 

Sacculina  (sakuli'na),  description 
of,  66,  67 

Schamberg,  Dr.,  165,  166 

Scott,  Professor,  77 

Seaver,  Dr.,  141 

Sex,  significance  of,  162 

Sheep,  varieties  of,  31,  32;  short- 
legged,  76 

Shoes,  Chinese,  73 


Snail  shells,  studied  by  Dr.  Gulick, 
81-87 ;  reasons  for  so  many 
species  of,  87 

Social  inheritance,  143 

Sommerville,  Lord,  on  sheep  breed- 
ing* 54 

South  America,  45,  48,  49,  51 ;  size 
of  animals  in,  47  ;  death  of  ani- 
mals in,  for  lack  of  water,  60 

Spargo,  Dr.,  199 

Species,  description  of,  50,  n.;  in- 
fluence of  environment  on,  95,  99 

Spencer,  Herbert,  reference  to, 
61,  n. 

Sperm  cells,  106,  107 

Sphygmograph  (sfig'mo  graf),  tests 
with,  on  tobacco  users,  136-139 

State  Liquor  Dealers  of  Ohio,  149 

Stockard,  Dr.,  119,  121 

Struggle  for  existence,  the  law  of, 

58,  59 

Survival  of  the  fittest,  the  law  of,  61 
Switzerland,     studies     of     feeble- 
mindedness made  in,  122,  123 
Syphilis  (sif'i  Us),  methods  of  com- 
munication of,   166-168;  protec- 
tion from,  171 

Tadpole,  from  unfertilized  egg,  100, 
101  ;  as  influenced  by  environ- 
ment, 114 

Tertiary  Bad  Lands,  mention  of,  40 
Thompson,  Dr.,  57,  58 
Thyroid  (thi'roid)  gland,  181 
Tobacco,  why  used  by  boys,   132; 
effect  of,   on   heart   action,   136, 
139;    double  nature  of,  140;   ef- 
fect  of,  on  Yale  students,   141  ; 
use  of,  studied  by  Dr.  Meylan,  142 
Tower,  Dr.,  80,  89,  90,  92,  93,  96, 

97>  98,  99 
Toxodon   (tok'so  don),   description 

of,  46 
Treves,  Sir  Frederick,  146 

University  of  Chicago,  The,  96 

Variation,  Darwin's  law  of,  60 
Vertebrates,  evidences  of  similarity 
in,    70 ;    individual    life   of,    how 
started,   101 ;    four  statements  in 
regard  to,  113 


INDEX 


235 


Vineland,  as  "  a  great  human  labora- 
tory," 183-185;  methods  adopted 
by,  183,  184,  1 88 

Viviparous  (vl  vip'arus),  115 

Watt,  James,  1 57 
Weismann,  Professor,  73,  105 
West  Point,  failure  in  entrance  ex- 
aminations to,  141 


Whale,  its  double  change,  68 
Wheat,  variety  in  heads,  26 ;   Pro- 
fessor Biffen's  work  with,  27 
Wilson,  Dr.,  179 
Wirthwein  Hall,  149 

Zoological   Laboratory  of  Harvard 

University,  12 
Zoologist,  definition  of,  65 
Zygote  (zi'got),  definition  of,  106  n. 


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